FRANCE

On September 1, 1939, Germany invaded Poland from the west and, on the 17th the Soviet Union invaded from the east. The Polish forces were quickly overwhelmed and Warsaw fell on the 27th, with the final resistance ending on October 6. A government in exile was quickly established in Angiers, France and began to recruit soldiers from among the Polish citizens living in France. Some 103,000 of these Poles were deemed capable of bearing arms, and 82,000 were conscripted or volunteered for the exile army by June 1940. Few of these men had any military experience, so a large training program was initiated at camps set up throughout France, and most of the mail seen from this period originated from the camps during the spring of 1940.

TEGROSTALE ft

ine Ss ul)

Coetquidan 20 November 1939

peep CARTE Hee — (s 15 March 1940

il th Up behets a - "| \- : i 2 AD Whe A A a 7 f ar 29 iy a a ; 2.10} Gas ‘ asl Pas \ 20 X139. 16 ‘ gti ay — — eB \ ed) Nd ot ween a _ |

5a, folskieg o

—

Li ll

e.

Lh Bree Polormais

| por B.e HM,

Bact, & |

FRANCHISE

“S~-MELITATRE

t * : 4 == . . o

\

¢ / : “4 1

| |

| , | |

1

z z) a}

Envoide. 0 Reg on Corps Sect. Post...

Patriotic postcards sent by Polish troops from Coetquidan, which was an administrative center. The upper card, imprinted with a Polish eagle, is a very early example of this mail; it was distinctly overpaid at 1£80 for posting to a Polish organization in London. Lower example depicts the British, French and Polish flags and has the unit cachet of the “Polish Army/Commandant of the Coetquidan Camp.” It was free of postage.

FRANCE Administrative Mail

The Poles did not have their own military postal service in France, so mail was marked “F.M. (Franchise Militaire)” to denote that it was to be handled postage free and then deposited in the nearest civil post office.

— “ Se i a = . ss

Paris

13 March 1940

17 Aril 1940

CENTRE ANNEXE (¥HST2U2TION BE LARHEE POLONAISE B

2ZECZPOS SKA A Tae =

1ST KOWYCH eI OTS GH

‘ist ERE DES AIRES aie =

ee LS. eS pew eer ‘ Se eae ete = as |

Upper cover has the cachet of the Commandant of the Polish Army in Paris; docketed for receipt on 4 April on the reverse. Lower cover has the imprinted return address of the Polish Ministry of Military Affairs in Paris and was sent to the Training Center of the Polish Army in Serignan, where it was received on April 18.

FRANCE Administrative Mail

Angers 1 April 1940

RZECZPOSPOLITA POLSKA

MINISTERST YO OPIEKI SPOLECZNES

REPUBLIQUE DE POLOGNE

MINISTERE DE L’ ASSISTANCE SOCIALE

BI, RUE MIRABEAU

ANGERS (MAINE-8-LOIRE)

Ministére des Affaires Vilitaires

Hotel Régina

ed ¥ rx * . 2 4

&,Place des Pyramides

PARIS Ter

‘Pepe te ees ame GUE eae FInd AOR Hie Hi wing Rent aay EE

This cover was sent between departments of the Polish Government in Exile. It went from the Ministry of Social Assistance in Angers to the Ministry of Military Affairs in Paris. Such mail was not exempt from postage, so adhesives were affixed to pay the 1 franc letter rate.

FRANCE

Polish Government -- Inbound Mail

Chartrettes

1940

Monsieur le PRESIDEN? du CONSEIL des MINISTRES

du GOUVERNEMENT POLONAIS,

Hotel REGINA,

2, Place des PYRAMIDES, 2

Inbound cover sent by an architectural firm to the President of the Council of Ministers of the Polish Government in Paris. A very unusual usage to a high official of the Government in Exile.

FRANCE Stamps for the Polish General Headquarters

The Polish authorities were desirous of printing their own stamps for use within France. However, this was impractical under the existing circumstances. However, permission was obtained from the Ministry of Posts in Paris to perforate French stamps with “W P (Wojsko Polskie/Polish Army).” A supply of stamps was then purchased from a nearby post office and a perforating machine obtained. The record indicates that a total of 8,580 stamps were perforated (Philatelic Magazine August 29, 1941) consisting of 25 different types, which were then used on mail from the General Headquarters from 3 May to 10 June 1940, when the office closed due to the approach of the Germans. The unsold stamps and perforating machine were evacuated from the office but later jettisoned in the Bay of Biscay due to overloading of ships carrying personnel to England.

@ a & 2 | REPUBLIOUE > ness

i mi

Shown above are the 17 definitive stamps that were perforated ““W P” for this purpose. The quantities produced range from 2,800 of the 50 cent. Peace design down to 100 each of five of the denominations. The used copies shown were all cancelled to order on the first day, 3 May 1940.

FRANCE Stamps for the Polish General Headquarters

V O R A

In addition to the definitives, eight commemorative and semi-postal stamps were perforated “W P” and used for postage. These were produced in very limited quantities, with 100 pieces each of the Maid of Languedoc and Bridge at Lyon, 75 pieces each of the Soldiers and F ield Marshals, and only 40 each of the Red Cross and Military Engineers. It has been estimated that the number saved in unused condition was between 23 and 30 copies of each, but only four of the Red Cross stamp. The used ‘copies shown were all cancelled to order on the first day, 3 May 1940.

FRANCE Stamps for the Polish General Headquarters

Although the “W P” perfin stamps were theoretically available for use on mail of the Polish authorities for 38 days, obtaining examples of such use is a very difficult effort. Essentially all of the (few) covers with these stamps that have been seen by exhibitor bear the 3 May 1940 postmark, but appear to be “handbacks” that were presented at the postal counter then cancelled and given back to the person presenting them, rather than something actually sent through the mail.

In fact, the only example of legitimate mail that appears to have actually processed and forwarded to the addressee in the normal course seen by the exhibitor is the wrapper shown above. It is franked with three of the “W P” perfins and sent between Polish Exile offices in Paris. The postmark appears to be dated 18 May 1940.

FRANCE Army Unit Mail Loudeac

3 April 1940

Lucon

ARMEE POLONAISE 10 March 1940

D’OF CENTRE ANNEXE D'INSTRUCTION

LBCON

SHODEK WYSZKOLENIA OFICEROW w LUCON

sf Jos Warn stere Usto-viowr der 44 fees fet Sl ee Wt reine

wdn ( Laven Fmd

FIGIERS

2 oy CP OKR of en (ay Fe OAM} “hea

Panis AZ

ARMEE POLONAISE Ln'ck ¢ Le Co fore te a

CENTRE ANNEXE DvSScRUSTION O°OFFIDIERS ee

OSRODEK WYSZKOLENIA OFICEROW ze Sere LOUDEAC a Kir ێ 8

Ly a Ee ‘ / aa COL a

& ae

Pe / C4 € ID Ze Ct wey ae e Bg ee

LGfe pe Ct 7 Gore

a \

Spit f a :

ne om = ey = 4 . ZA _

bet ee ee 2 57) } G Co LiMo w che Y, 7 y cee F. : x eye = igo A Se honk

Nae / At free we Ge man Re.

Additional covers from Officers Training Centers, these being sent from Loudeac and Lucon. Lower cover has additional bilingual circular cachet depicting a Polish eagle in the center.

FRANCE Army Unit Mail

Anets po! Quaiae ~ zs eo

¢ Oe ee II

CENTRE ANCEXE D 8STRUCT ON D'OFFICIERS Jf eee! UY. u FONTENAY-LE-SOMTE

OSROUEK WYSUMOLENA OFIGEROW W FONTENAY-LE-COMTE LENIEA

Ilinist de Ay Me

}

A)

— Militoin ay Le i

’

CAMA er ee f) 1 ) : sis hf 5 | . i

1 Gow dy Syraundes

Chateaubriant

8 May 1940

Fontenay le Comte

24 May 1940

ee te eee ac Ma (he See

— iE by Steet i GAR FERO STARE AUX ARWMEES 4} pemee ty baer Qo Ne Gl eZ ea et EA! z 5

- aS . EXPEDITEUR DESTINATAIRE

Grade .

Cl est recommandé d’écrire trés lisiblement)

non. Aefag

as ven

These examples sent from Officers Training Centers in Chateaubriant and Fontenay le Comte, respectively. Bilingual French/Polish unit cachets were applied.

FRANCE Army Unit Mail Angers

12 March 1940

Bressuire

22 April 1940

Upper cover bears the cachet of the Instruction Center of the Polish Engineers at Angers. Below, the cover was sent from the Staging Area of the Polish Army at Bressuire.

FRANCE Army Unit Mail

th oC LUO Sk

agg Fett

Jl Dorie th

LAK Hoe, SL tua Wleidl

ee ee 5 a SLLE

WZ f : ¢ 5 a J Le yuu

Armee Polonaise

Poste aux Armees

2 April 1940

Lt) Ft f oe

Mi gph

Upper cover has no postal markings, hence undated. However, it was sent to Paris by a member of the 2nd Infantry Regiment. Once units were activated for service at the front, the mail was processed by the French fieldpost system with a “Mail from the Army” postmark. However, such items are rarely seen due to the impending German invasion of France. This cover sent from z a Polish anti-aircraft training unit located at the time at St. Nazaire.

FRANCE

Army Unit Mail Niort

ES aca” 1 April 1940 2 autonome a 20 April 1940

K . Samedzielna w Niort :

LUS/

Ministerstwe “praw Viejskewych

Kenisja Gespedareza

PA ris 2,clace des Pyramides

ee NM Naa Selvgees dr ECM 8 $0958 eee N NCR eRe. , ee

5 cP Cae es Let 2» Aiki >= Service de Sthie >. —-NIORT — , 28°" ©. — 1081 ee % 7 ‘ : oe 2 re : ; ae a i a 70 SERA ROMPRALD BE Plage) <CEHTRE OS —{

CYh, Oe 8

ieee Bde ont

Monsieur le Ministre des Affaires Militaires

de Pologne

Hotel Régina

Rue de Rivoli

Pek ee 8

The upper cover is one of the more unusual uses, with the cachet of the Autonomous Company at Niort. The men recruited for this unit had been Polish volunteers on the Republican side during the Spanish Civil War. When the Nationalist forces won, the volunteers crossed the border into France, where they were interned and subsequently released in order to serve in the Polish Army in Exile. Lower cover sent from the Chief of Medicine at the Hospital in Niort.

FRANCE Army Unit Mail Parthenay

17 April 1940 9 May 1940

UZUP PELNIEN “ Nay (Deux-€yrex)

Official covers with cachets of the Conscription Center and Reserve Center at Parthenay. Upper example was sent registered, which is highly unusual for mail from the Polish units, although no additional postage was charged for this service.

FRANCE Army Unit Mail Sables d’Or

8 April 1940

Ste. Cecile les Vigues 28 February 1940

QD fy A 4 2 \

} Cl

; a" a

Manatee, cer awe Militar te Iola Shady

Segue

Upper cover from Ste. Cecilie has an unusual cachet of the Ist Tank Battalion. There was another Officers Training Center at Sables d’Or, which also used a red cachet.

FRANCE Army Unit Mail Thenezay

sa ' . =~ 8 April 1940

Thouars

April 1940

STHENEZAY

038d |

re A

es Nacusbavege Modeou

f an , %

of i a -~ e e _—— 7

ARMEE POLONAISE

CENTRE ANNEXE D'INSTRUCTION D'OFFICIERS THOUARS

ee tic OSRODEK WY KOLENIA OFICEROW w THOUKRS

42L /ty tat | te

Upper cover sent Lestcuieadl from the Command Center of the 2nd Regiment of Light Artillery at Thenezay. Lower example sent from the Officers Training Center at Thouars.

FRANCE Army Unit Mail Val Andre

13 March 1940

Versailles

3 May 1940

Upper registered cover from the Polish Officers Training Center at Val Andre. In this case the cachet is a standard type for the French Army with symbol of France in the center and no inscription in Polish. Below is a card sent from the Signal Corps Training Camp at Versailles.

FRANCE Polish Red Cross Mail

a

Ministerstwo Spraw vue

TOULOUSE

21. RUE D’‘ORLEANS

TELEPHONE 210-65

Paris

25 April 1940

Toulouse

14 November 1940

POLSKI CZERWONY KRZYZ WE FRANCJI DELEGAT DO SPRAW OPIEKI NAD B. KOMBATANTAMI

OKR. TULUSKI ;

CROIX ROUGE POLONAISE EN FRANCE DELEGUE POUR L’ASSISTANCE AUX ANCIENS ae — 4G! CIRCONSCRIPTION DE. TOULOUSE

et >

Nor. R [os

é

omite Internationg x=Rouge

Te Vin pe ae ote pe Palais du Conseil General

a s

Geneve

It is said that the Red Cross follows the troops and, for the Polish Army in Exile, this was clearly the case. Upper cover sent from the Red Cross office in Paris to the Ministry of Military Affairs. Lower cover sent from Toulouse to Geneva after the armistice, presumably inquiring about Polish POWs.

FRANCE Polish Red Cross Mail

Vichy 25 April 1941

La Tronche 12 December 1942

fe de La CROIX-RovGE {

~

Genéve

uw ee a m wR ea

; eto, 1 00e/ a _— Groupement d’Assistanes 2xx Polonats en France BUREAU BE RECHERCHES —

Ville “ BELLES ALPES » LA TRONCHE, prés Grenoble (Isdre) z

Even after the armistice between France and Germany, the Polish Red Cross remained active in humanitarian services, attempting to trace Polish citizens caught in the fighting. These covers sent from Polish offices located in Vichy (unoccupied) France to the International Red Cross in Geneva.

FRANCE Polish Organizations

Marseille 30 March 1940

/ Carvin (° ’ 14 May 1940

Ges Comité International OFFICE POLONAIS A MARSEILLE

DVYY = Wryy a RMAWT de le Croix Row S BIURO POLSKIE W HARSYLII os 2, Place Félix Baret Agence Centrale des Prisonniers

; de Gyerre Tél, D. 48-61 ;

write 8OL/T/Si Gens ve

Oglais du Conseil Général

REESE cae oe ae 5 ; 28

hax ap ae CROKE Stow. Rez. i B. Wojskowyeh Kzplitej Polskiej we Francji | Qidivid Leal east ne ‘| (Wea G LEERY GLa ha Beiae i ni ee

eee eee : Association des Anciens Combattants Polonais en Erance i SIA

Rue St. Jacques, 44 — DOUAI (Nord). — Tel. 1354. _

a Pace de ep raccute 4

a Pra L eae

Various Polish agencies operated in France prior to the armistice. Th is F

. Lhe upper registered cov Association of F ormer Polish Combatants to the Minister of Polish Military ‘Affairs in Paris, Bales en cover from the Polish Bureau in Marseille to the International Red Cross in Geneva dealing the POWs

FRANCE Polish Organizations

Paris 21 December 1945

Cover sent in the early postwar period from the Central Union of the Poles in France to the Polish American Congress in Washington. Adhesives paid the Trans-Atlantic airmail rate of 18 francs in effect at that time.

FRANCE

Polish Participation in the French Forces of the Interior

ca. 1944

Mystery hand delivered cover with endorsement of the Military Commandant of the French Forces of the Interior (partisan resistance fighters). On the reverse is the cachet of the First Polish Battalion. This usage not seen previously by exhibitor.

GREAT BRITAIN

Some of the Polish soldiers in France were taken as POWs by the Germans, some crossed the border and were interned in Switzerland and some were evacuated by sea to Britain in July 1940. In contrast to the situation in France, the Poles were permitted to establish their own fieldpost operations in Britain. The first military postal markings appeared as receiving marks on inbound mail starting in September 1940 but were used to cancel the required British postage on outgoing mail from the fall of 1941. In general, mail from the troops in Britain did not have regimental cachets as in France. Initially, the Polish military postal service was established in Glasgow, Scotland, but it was transferred to Perth at the end of 1940. ,

Biuro Pocztowe/1 Korpsu 28 January 1941

The first Polish fieldpost marking was a double oval inscribed “Postal Bureau/1 Corps,” which is recorded as being used from September 1940. This example is used as a receiving mark on an inbound letter to the Polish postal box at the GPO in Perth.

GREAT BRITAIN

1.Korpus Wojsk Polskich 17 December 1941

5 January 1942

A U S W E N E S

We Nco

omi atl

s Migs

iak v

ae haa

r a

ih b e

V w

NE i e

Xi

KOM = GLASGOW | POLISH MILITARY BUREAU.

A newly designed double-circle postmark with a Polish eagle and bilingual inscription “1st Polish Army Corps/Field Post” was introduced in October 1941. It is shown above applied in black on an inbound letter and in purple on an outgoing postcard from the Polish Headquarters in Glasgow.

GREAT BRITAIN

Polska Poczta Polowa Nr.1 25 February 1943

3 August 1943 POST CARD

2g FEB 8 ee kr Madryra fam

fe Opi FT Ye (ay Kee, LOMUSTEC Foe

Yo Mrs. hess : wells Ac LKens

here k kin kea ee wpe. 2K. di

_ eee Settee een

LONDON, 8.W. 4, '

DIN 56524" 4 we

4 YIU, JAaututo

< CAA

we Urey BY AIR MAIL rs

A third type of postmark was introduced in November 1942. It was also a double- circle type with a bilingual inscription reading “Polish Field Post Office No.1.” It is shown above applied in black on an official postcard of the Central Committee of the Polish Red Cross in London sent to Scotland. Below, the postmark is applied in red violet to a registered airmail cover sent to California.

GREAT BRITAIN

Polska Poczta Polowa Nr.1

6 September 1944 27 November 1944

G4 _ < WEDO NOT BEG » > FOR FREEDO

i Ma e

Chorgtzy KULIBERDA

LO Learmonth Terrace

Stelfachm. CYRUK Jan P/35 Pee ie

Polish Forces

A similar but larger postmark was introduced in April 1944. It had a different style of lettering and did not have lines above and below the date. It was normally used on registered mail and struck in red, as shown.

GREAT BRITAIN

Biuro Pocz. Deleg. In. Lot 5 November 1943

Biuro Pocztowe Bazy Sil Pow. 21 December 1944

POST GARD THE ADORESS TO BE WRITTEN ON THiS SIDE

25 YEARS OF THE POLISH AIR FORCE 1918 34 1943

95-LECIE LOTNICTWA POLSKIEGO

igs Air Force

HE Guertin. FE - LO Duggan,

a —

There were two different postmarks prepared for use by the Polish Air Force in 1943 and 1944, respectively. The wording of the Polish inscriptions differed but both read “Polish Air Forces Mail” in English at the bottom of the dial.

GREAT BRITAIN

Inbound Mail

Field Post Office 406 3 September 1943

[ Virehe Cord

| Lh 4 a | C

Up G : For.._Correspondence--

Picture postcard (of Delhi) sent from Karachi, India to Scotland, paying the 4 annas airmail card rate. This example was addressed to a Polish serviceman and censored twice en route. Arrived at FPO 406 in two weeks. This was a British FPO that was allocated for use by the Polish forces during the period from 13 July 1943 into 1946. It is considered to be a scarce usage.

GREAT BRITAIN

Inbound Mail

Polska Poczta Polowa

Nrl

13 November 1945

dy

= A £ Ss Ag,

Stag. Tip, 0. Marcnesini -, Loneto

7 Oe <2 5

Picture postcard (of Loreto) sent to a member of the Polish Forces in Scotland. Postmarked Loreto on 19

October, this card took 25 days to arrive at the Polish FPO. Censored by the Italians.

GREAT BRITAIN

Polska Marynarka Wojenna 22

21 April 1943

ON HIS MAJESTY’S SERVICE. —

~ FASTEN Envelope by gumming this Label across Flap.

OPEN by cutting Label instead of tearing Envelope.

Fyg. SKIE BIURO WOUSKOWE DJowcodea. POLISH MILITARY BUREAU

EDINBURGH

oh 0/4293 ¥.6.P. Wet. 18094 6/43 (Lablest’

“4 We VA f B. Picture postcard showing Prime Minister Churchill and Polish Forces in Scotland, where they were in training for the invasion of Europe. Cover below was sent in 1943 from the Polish Military Bureau in Edinburgh.

GREAT BRITAIN

Polish Forces P176 21 August 1944

Field Post Office

27 November 1945

y /9 : f —

‘Tpaset \ tthimoeen strate |

| PASSED BY j =

. CENSOR No ‘= P

\ 12981) E stinlieera pe, & x ae

LA rolandth. | :

a

ee ee)

& —

Some of the Poles in Great Britain were integrated into British military units. As a result, most of the later mail was sent through the British fieldpost system. One exception is the “Polish Forces” postmark shown

above on cover to Edinburgh.

GREAT BRITAIN British Liberation Army

bees — = Field Post Office 431 20 December 1944

Field Post Office 406

26 October 1945

SHE ea? Section Gh de, iinedien =

——= SS eae aa Seg PT ee

When the Poles were transferred to the Continent, they became part of the British Liberation Army and used the British fieldpost. Belgian-Polish patriotic postcard was mailed through FPO 431 serving the 1st Armored Division. The cover below was sent by a member of the BAOR (British Army on the Rhine) during the occupation of Germany. Note censorship label of the First Polish Corps.

GREAT BRITAIN British Liberation Army

forwarded in this cover, but i fast all be from the same writer, The cover should be addressed —

“in such cases to the Base Censor.

2. This envelope must not be used for coin or valuables, It cannot be accepted for registration,

3. Correspondence in this ie need not be censored regimenta Ay es contents are liable to examina

4A. The following Certifc by the writer. :

I certify on my Drake ee fe bon- tents of this envelppeTefer. to notping but private and family af ABR. :

iendiare | Naiae only eSgid

The address

only to be

written on this

side. If any-

thing else is

added the

post card will

be destroyed.

{Crown Copyright Reserved.)

Field Post Office 251 16 September 1944

8 October 1944

ADDRESS :— ©

Re Se lhe

Merszalek Stanislaw —

P/107

Polish Forces

: pane

British Liberation Army.

For, Dae Olot he

P/ 70 odie Forces

rah en mes E, CA

Poles in the British Liberation Army used the British fieldpost. Upper example of an Active Service Envelope was sent between members of the BLA from near Caen, France. Lower example of a Field Service Card was sent from he same FPO to a member of the Polish forces in Britain.

GREAT BRITAIN British Liberation Army

~ Field Post Office 406 14 October 1944

ae

Field Post Office 801 21 August 1945

0.

Upper cover mailed by a member of the First Polish Armored Division of the BLA via FPO 406, which was assigned to the Polish Army. Lower cover from the HQ of the Polish Recruiting Mission in Paris was mailed through FPO 801, which was assigned to the British Liberation Army.

GREAT BRITAIN British Liberation Army -- Inbound Mail

Termunten 25 December 1944

Inbound New Year’s greeting card mailed from The Netherlands to a member of the Polish Forces serving in the British Liberation Army. A very unusual usage not seen otherwise by exhibitor.

GREAT BRITAIN Polish Navy

At the time of the German invasion, Polish naval and merchant marine vessels that were at sea or could escape headed for Allied or neutral posts, especially those in Great Britain. Although there was no communication with the homeland, official and other letters sent by Polish sailors were allowed free postage just like members of the Royal Navy. However, for political and propaganda reasons, the Government in Exile decided to establish a postal service and issue stamps to be used on the ships, which were considered Polish territory. This service was inaugurated on 15 _ December 1941, with post offices being established on the various vessels.

Post Office/Maritime Mail 2 October 1944

Official Navy Letter from a crew member of the submarine O.R.P. Dzik (Republic of Poland Ship Boar) to the Chief of the Planning Bureau of the Navy % G.P.O. London. Postage for mail sent through the British naval postal system was free if bearing imprints or cachets of units attesting to their military status. In this case, the cachet was of the “Senior Officer/Polish Submarines.” However, special services, such as registry or special delivery, required payment of the appropriate fee -- 3d in the case of registration shown above.

GREAT BRITAIN Polish Navy

Post Office/Maritime Mail 12 January 1945

Official registered letter sent from the submarine O.R.P. Dzik to the Polish Naval Headquarters in London. Bears the special registration label for maritime mail and a 3d adhesive to pay the registry fee.

GREAT BRITAIN Polish Navy

Polska Marynarka Wojenna 1 15 December 1941

Polska Marynarka Wojenna 27 11 August 1943

Gr75).

Riitoa q Posh iForces SO

R

PITS Ce Cy - es TT WARSZAWA WRZESIEN 1939. MICKIEWICZA KRAKOW 1940,

ane

Street ko petse

No Pegecencoes pabere we merorenasen Aven . Ligier y st > =

On 15 December 1941, eight pictorial stamps were issued, with the lower denominations depicting scenes of destruction in Warsaw while the higher values showed Polish military forces in Great Britain. Pictorial postmarks were provided in two types, one for naval vessels and the other for ships of the merchant marine, with each being assigned its own number (except for Polish Naval HQ in London, which was No. 15). Upper cover mailed on the first day of issue from destroyer O.R.P. Piorun (Thunderbolt) to a Polish soldier in Scotland. Lower cover franked with the complete set was mailed from the sub O.R.P. Wilk (Wolf) to the Bank

of Poland in London.

GREAT BRITAIN Polish Navy:

Polska Marynarka Wojenna 1 15 December 1941

Polska Marynarka Wojenna 27 29 September 1943

Lisi igti—=t} {~~ POUSKA MARYNARKA

gee eed | ZO wouenna A Wester lolly Kev (A)

ty /noud 4

POCZTOWA

B 8 2 e w e e e

w h .

\ /

W i e

A AE -U

GREAT BRITAIN Polish Navy

Polska Marynarka Wojenna 12 31 March 1942

11 May 1942

LOTNICTWO POLSKIE WW. BRYTANII

| POGZTA POLSKA FA%2 we eiing AGEiidA [a paacitinn |

fre isen hee, © Wr Si

Mie, Reflow Ber Do Lucalta. ie al =a ~ Messe alo Croke reer ice, ee - a ie ne

ee ry eo 2-25 tt Bo Sweat lecle aces

Commercial use of the higher denomination stamps is seldom seen. These registered examples were mailed

from ship No. 12, the destroyer O.R.P. Burza (Storm). They are a letter to a Pole serving with the RAF in Exeter and a postcard to a Polish Jesuit missionary at the unusual destination of Lusaka, Northern Rhodesia. Postage of 1 zloty was proper for a registered letter (55 gr. plus 45 gr.) but overpaid for the postcard.

GREAT BRITAIN Polish Navy

Polska Marynarka Wojenna 27 26 April 1943

frie Sw

VWOJENNA W W. Ear

a POLSKA MAR. WOJENNA

4 AGENCIA POCZTOWA

£ N Z F Os cccecace LE Mh vacscanscics

Registered cover franked with the highest denomination of the first exile government stamps, the 1.50 zloty value. This example sent to a Polish corporal serving with the RAF in Finningsley, Yorkshire and forwarded to the Radio School in London. Sent via ship No.27, O.R.P. Wilk.

GREAT BRITAIN

Polish Navy

Polska Marynarka Handlowa 15 December 1942

1941 Anniversary of New Polish Postal Service 1942

VEE eee ns PASE Tey -

e . “ si: @ oe. @ 45 7

si Rocznica wznowienia Poczty Polskiej ny

POLSKA MARYNARKA HANDLOWA

Ry (5 1am) A AGENCJA POCZTOWA

This philatelic postcard commemorates the first anniversary of the Polish Naval Postal Service in Exile. It

was cancelled on the appropriate date with the version of the postmark issued to the merchant marine, but

without a ship number to the right. Sent to a member of the Polish Army (designated by serial number) with

receiving mark of Polish FPO No.1 applied.

GREAT BRITAIN Polish Navy

Polska Marynarka Wojenna 3 5 August 1943

oA TIS : : - ven

FASTE NEnyelope by gumminpsthis Laberatross E laps a 4

' B02 ‘OPEN by cuttin: shabel instead™of tearing Efivelopes n= 1 Sébe —— i;

yPuNssy = a nena!

poi: NAY — ORRGRE EEE —

S2Y ADMINISTRA Sv6ITTAS O35]

seen.

In mid-1943, a second type of naval cancel was introduced on some ships, possibly to replace lost or damaged postmarks. In this case, the number of the ship was placed to the right outside the enclosed area for the date. This example mailed from the cruiser O.R.P. Dragon (ship No. 3) and passed through the civil post office in Glasgow en route to the Chief Administrator of the Polish Navy in London. Note reused envelope with added label inscribed “Polish Navy -- Official Letter.”

GREAT BRITAIN Polish Navy

Polska Marynarka Wojenna 3 5 August 1945

_Ae Ww

+ y ;

|e Ag # = i,

+

Cover from the Senior Polish Naval Officer in the Clyde District to Naval HQ in London. Sent registered and special delivery from Greenock, Renfrewshire via O.R.P. Dragon. Postage paid for the special services by British adhesives. The lowest value Polish stamp was affixed, most likely to obtain the ship’s postmark.

GREAT BRITAIN Polish Navy

Polska Marynarka Wojenna 27 3 May 1945

aN A

iis mea _ = Pi é tes, 5

F 2 < £ fi LOTNICTWO POLSKIE 2 W WALCE O ATL: K

75h - (REE

POLSKA MAR. WOJENNA PGENCIA FOCZTOWA {=e ae p

pF : f 7 ; Nien. 7 Peer

iv el y

On 1 November 1943, the Exile Government issued 200,000 sets of a second group of pictorials showing various aspects of the war effort. These were valid for postage on the ships until 11 July 1945. This philatelically-prepared cover with the complete set was mailed from ship no. 27, O.R.P. Wilk, to a Polish civilian in Edinburgh. The addressee was no longer there (see “gone away” in manuscript) so the letter was returned to the sender, a Polish officer in Falkirk, Scotland.

GREAT BRITAIN

Polish Navy

Polska Marynarka Wojenna 27 16 December 1943 16 December 1944

POST CAR De

Best wishes for a hapoy z / dif ak 5. ae

pee goody etme

in the S Ney tae i z A.A.3.CGentro American Gono.

¥! / se | | (Ms ow

rom A oY. re 32 Balderas St.,

i z gan) ; , tQ&. ~—> Obese < Mexico City,

= “‘Dendon 191.3 a Mexico i

O S l Cc é \ : D x Cee LE pate LET es OS VA ey}

~, POLSKA ae !

Ra i PuuLl Ua se \

Po li sh

Pr is on er s

of W a r

Fu nd

,

YO uv

s °D

‘s hi s2 fo rg

StL Walliams

47a Co tvege

1100/2 Cer PvEerncded

Results of operational activities of the Polish a pe in Gr. Britain ‘ LZ xe Ze- ? ‘ from 1-8-1940 until 31-7-194:

Fighter Squadrons shot down 680 enemy aircraft, 174 ie 228 damaged. <a vegies tee Eas

Bomber Squadrons: 8,280 sorties; dropped 19,866,992 |b. of bombs. Le ee - € BI SHE

Lol cehng el the Bilth

Th e

pr ic

e of

th is

ca rd

is 4d .

an d

th e

en ti re

pr of

it

fr om

its

sa le

is gi

ve n

to

stheliTe B ait

These postcards show commercial use of the second pictorial stamps. Both are mailed from ship no. 27, O.R.P. Wilk. Upper card sent from London to Mexico City, an extraordinary destination for Polish exile mail. The rate of 30 groszy was proper for a postcard. Lower card sent from Edinburgh to Exeter is overpaid with 55 groszy applied, which was the letter rate.

GREAT BRITAIN Polish Navy

Proof

POCZTA POLSKA

Proof of unadopted design of 80 groszy stamp depicting Polish troops in the U.S.S.R. in 1941/1942. The design was by A. Horowicz, and it was printed by Bradbury, Wilkinson in 1943 on gummed paper with serial number 66. A very elusive item.

GREAT BRITAIN Polish Navy -- Posted Out of Course

Poczta Polowa 137

14 March 1946

LS Si

POCZ OMI ESR

<ZOFIA RUZIEWICL

I), Jouvn EDWARDS |

68-63, 108™ STREET

FOREST HILLS

(VELL VOR Re Lit

(EES

[PASSED BY | CENSOR

Ne

13707

i, aia

The London issues were intended for use on Polish naval and merchant marine vessels but were occasionally used at Polish army training bases in Great Britain. However, they were not valid for postage elsewhere. The examples here were affixed (presumably as souvenirs) to an airmail letter sent from Polish fieldpost office 137, which was located at Forli, Italy from 26 October 1945 to 28 March 1946. However, the actual postage was paid by the 6 cent U.S. airmail stamp. This is the only such example of this franking seen by exhibitor.

GREAT BRITAIN Polish Navy

a a _— a _. Polska Marynarka Wojenna 27 ee eee a : : = ss 12 August 1944

Polska Marynarka Wojenna 25 17 July 1944

TENSES HIE SR SBR eR ny ar REE rR Ceo STR

WOTTINGHAM aS SESE

“I POLSKA MAR. WOJENNA AGENCIA PGCZIOWA

No. 2 aeeoeesenoone® eeovcsevncecsse

| Mr Karol

goe7 W,Charleston s Chicago 47 ;

c/o AM-POL USA

To commemorate the successful capture from the Germans of the Monastery of Monte Cassino in Italy, 55,000 sets of the remainders of the higher denominations of the first exile series were overprinted “Monte Cassion/18 V. 1944” and issued on 27 June of that year. Examples shown on philatelically-prepared registered covers to the Polish Air Force Canteen in Nottingham and to Chicago. They were mailed through ships No. 27 (Wilk) and No. 25 (Sokol), respectively.

GREAT BRITAIN Polish Navy

Mr. Tyksinski Maciej

Polska Marynarka Wojenna 25

PS POLSKA MABYHARKA Leg s WANNA

wt $ 1945

moh f ;GENC ‘JA P0OZT

nth = oN eh

Edinbaoreh

57, Gr. King Street

3 February 1945

To honor the Warsaw uprising (1 August to 3 October 1944) against the German occupation, the Exile Government issued 105,000 copies of a semi-postal stamp with a denomination of 1 plus 2 zloty on 3 February 1945. It was valid for postage until 11 July 1945. The example shown was mailed on he first day of use from ship No. 25 (O.R.P. Sokol) to Edinburgh.

CANADA

On the basis that there were 4 million Americans and Canadians of Polish descent, the government in Exile decided to recruit some of these men for service with the forces in Britain. In March 1941, General Duch was appointed as head of the Military Mission in Canada to implement this program, and a camp was established at Windsor, Ontario, very near the U.S. border.

prospective recruits joined the U.S. forces.

BATALI SAGLNY w OWEN SOD-OARO OUR Ui Hin LU, DAI

POLISH TRAINING BATTALION

r = is

§ powsddztwe Obozu im. YTadeuss a BMosciuszki

{ ; ee d setae pean alc

i —— ey i fae ‘Przydzi iat

i Deia | L. de. ifr J

a {2 9 | “4

Wi ont y i ‘RD \

ex t

However, before it could function, the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor, and most of the

Owen Sound, Ont.

19 May, 1942

M. Hertzberg

736 Hillgirt Circle

Oakland, Calif.

This cover was sent to the U.S. from the Polish Training Battalion at Owen Sound.

This large cover contained an official message from General Dembinski of the Military Mission; sent by courier to the Chief of Staff in London. An

Polish Military Mission in Canada 27 February 1943

CANADA

extremely unusual usage.

SOVIET UNION Kozelsk POW Camp

As a result of the Soviet invasion of Eastern Poland on 17 September 1939, a large number of Polish soldiers were taken as POWs. Most of these were held in Prisoner of War camps, including Gryazovets, Kozelsk, Ostaskhov, Pawliszaslav and Starobelsk. The mailing addresses for the camps was designated as P. O. Box 11, Central Post Office, Moscow. In addition, each camp had its own code number. Because men that eventually formed the Polish II Corps in 1942 were recruited from these camps, this early mail can be viewed as forerunners of the later units.

Warschau

15 January 1941

Kozelsk had a bad history. It held 4,500 POWs during October 1939 to April 1940. However, only 200 of these men survived, with the rest being Polish officers murdered in the Katyn Forest by the NK VD. Additional POWs who had been interned in Lithuania during the 1939 occupation were sent to the camp from summer 1940 to August 1941 after that country was annexed by the USSR. Cover above was inbound from Warsaw (then under German occupation) to P.O.B. 11, Code C-41. It was backstamped for arrival in Moscow on 3 February 1941.

SOVIET UNION Ostaskhovy POW Camp

Ostaskhov 3 January 1940

This camp was located in Russia some 150 miles northeast of Moscow. It was in operation for only seven months and examples of its mail are scarce. Its code was C-12. This postal card was mailed to Brest Litovsk but not backstamped.

SOVIET UNION Starobelsk POW Camp

Starobelsk 7 December 1939

Starobelsk Camp was located in Ukraine about 300 miles south of Moscow. It operated from October 1939 to April 1940 when its inmates were transported to Siberia. Its code was C-15. This postal card was sent to Chodorov in the Lwow District, which had been annexed to the Soviet Ukraine in 1939.

SOVIET UNION Zachoroach Wielki POW Camp

Dubno 19 March 1940

This small camp was located in part of pre-war Poland that was annexed to the Soviet Ukraine in 1939. It was located near Dubno, about 120 miles northwest of Lwow. This postal card was uprated to 30 kopeks for international use and sent to Lublin in the German occupied zone, where it was censored by the Wehrmacht.

SOVIET UNION Buzuluk Camp

When Germany invaded the Soviet Union on June 22, 1941, the situation changed dramatically for the 200,000 Polish POWs taken during the 1939 invasion and about 250,000 others subsequently arrested by the NKVD, including policemen, judges, government workers and other “unsafe elements” being held in the U.S.S.R. Stalin agreed that 50,000 men (later increased) from these groups could be recruited into a military force to fight on the Allied side. However, he did not want a large number of armed and potentially disruptive Poles to be loose in Russia. So, the elements of this force were ordered to assemble in the Saratov region for transportation to the Central Asia and then on to Iran and elsewhere in the Middle East where they would fight under British command.

Buzuluk 20 November 1941

3 February 1942

Postal evidence relating to the assembly camps is exceedingly elusive and collectors are fortunate to find any examples. Shown above is a large portion of an inbound postal card sent to Buzuluk in the Czkalowska District, which was the headquarters of the newly-created Polish Army in the U.S.S.R. Below is a receipt for a money order for 30 rubles sent from Buzuluk.

SOVIET UNION Tatischevo & Tiotskoya Camps

Tatischevo

January 1942

Tock Lager 17 December 1941

ff Oura otpetaeT 3a npa-

“ISTE MNEPeCBOTb! B Tede

"HHO WECTH Mechies co

‘Qua NOANH HepeBona He

HOUTY.

Mocrauopzenue CHK CCCP”

or 20 Hom6n% 1933 gona *

K oranp = da, A. po Dia.

i .

| 2 i ewek

Dor e ae :

oe fe 5 oa

The other two assembly camps were located at Tatischevo near Saratov and the Tock Lager at Totskoye. Example from the former is an inbound registered cover front sent from Tugzak to Camp N.1 at Tatischevo. Stamps removed (by the censor?) but manuscript endorsement indicates it was received on 10 J anuary 1942. Example from Tock Lager is a receipt for a money transfer of 300 rubles sent on 17 December 1941 and apparently not received until 6 June 1942.

SOVIET UNION Yangi Jul - GHQ

In the end, about 87,000 Poles were sent to the Central Asian republics, including Kazakhstan, Kirghizia and Uzbekistan. The headquarters of the A.P.W. (Armia Polska na Wschozie = Polish Army in U.S.S.R.) as the group was known, was established in Yangi Jul, near Tashkent in Uzbekistan. Other units were billeted in various locations as indicated on the subsequent pages. The Polish troops were not given a postal franchise, so postage had to be paid on mail at normal Soviet rates. Generally, the normal civil postmarks of the towns in which the units were stationed were used. However, Soviet fieldpost offices in the 3,000 series were assigned and used from May to August 1942. Lastly, an evacuation center was established at Ashkhabad in Turkmenistan from which the men departed for Iran, including the initial 28,000 troops that left during March and April 1942; with the rest following in August.

Yangi Jul 6 June 1942

Official letter sent from the Polish Relief & Welfare Office in Yangi Jul to a Polish government representative in Dzhambul. Backstamped in transit at the railway station at Czu on the same date.

SOVIET UNION Yangi Jul - GHQ

Dundee 26 January 1942

Mail sent to the Polish forces from outside the Soviet Union is exceedingly scarce. This letter mailed from Dundee, Scotland to a Polish exile in London, where it was received on the 29th. It was marked in manuscript “Left for Russia,” and sent to the Polish First Army F ieldpost Office, from which it was sent to Russia by diplomatic pouch. Receipt in Yangi Jul is confirmed by the black triangular censorship marking inscribed “O B.C. = HQ Biuro Cenzury,” which was assigned to that location.

SOVIET UNION Yangi Jul - GHQ

on ie : sas 4 Kokchtav wQLHOLA HOR . February 1942

Ayaguz

ee Ura Se tip MU

8 April 1942

neo mine eda BLE ape Tas Tang po es HL. . [ bs

pee Hie = 10.05, Ys

(Hanmenopanne ASE CAE WAXOANTCH MOUTa, A “obaacrn nan ee a 7 “cTannuti HanMeHORanHe i Zoporn)

= Nitty hae 14 eee (Bee Ome 2 Tao HH kepesns)

| yg (re h Ov" rs 20

Komy Mpa ey 2B b

~ nae

Inbound mail to Yangi Jul is less elusive than outbound since units located elsewhere sent reports in to the Headquarters of the APW. Upper cover is a very early example sent from Kokchetav railway station in Kazakhstan to Tashkent, where it was received on 26 February and then forwarded by messenger to Yangi Jul. Postage covered the 30 kopek letter rate plus 30 for the registration fee. Below, a stationery envelope sent from Ayaguz to Yangi Jul, where it was backstamped for receipt on 10 April.

SOVIET UNION Yangi Jul - GHQ

Katta Kurgan 29 April 1942

Registered cover sent from Katta Kurgan in the Samarkand District in Uzbekistan to the Headquarters of the A.P.W. in Yangi Jul, where it was backstamped for receipt on 2 May. In this case, censorship is indicated by a triangular handstamp with “C” at the apex (the code letter of the censor at Yangi Jul) with Rej.B.C.W. for Rejonowe Biuro Cenzury Wojskowej meaning regional military censorship bureau.

SOVIET UNION Yangi Jul - GHQ

Military Post No. 3000 22 May 1942

10 August 1942

: —f-R : ' ry # CHHOCTh |- NeNo Pon Mecro flonasa- Haumenospanue oO tn TEABCKHH /

sop. | OTMpaBenul nomaun HOMEp -ampecara . K.

1 2 oo 6 fs

Z y ; +S f ray ; i; 4 4) Pe yy Cha Ca es A.

// Cr , hie 5 a ie x spp h /, — Abb AS) Aphid = 6

ityh as oe ) - SF fe a Lhe MALL ACM Gt G

( 2 a eseHN TIDES CITE sons looe Mestom f =e K : ie 7

/ ¥ y ae =~ z AAT 7 << ga) t Cth Fo DP at al / 5 ~ j Yam 020|. able ee iG 4 FA

eee

nt earner ae fn enn MBO 637!

In May 1942, the Soviets provided a series of fieldpost cancellations for use on the mail of the Polish forces. These were inscribed with “USSR” and a star at the top, “Military Post” at the sides and a number below. MPO #3000 was assigned to Yangi Jul. It is shown here on a receipt for a money order for 50 rubles which originated at Voroshilovgrad on 3 April, was sent via Tokmak and Bornoye and finally forwarded to Yangi Jul, where it was postmarked on 22 May, the very first day of use of the MPO 3000 cancel. The large postal document is a listing of three letters that was endorsed with the appropriate postmark and censorship cachet.

SOVIET UNION Dzhalal Abad Camp

21 May 1942 15 June 1942

ieeetesieceeetigh-ra heer teil

The Sth Infantry Division was stationed at Dzhalal Abad in Kirgizia. It used a censor marking with code “B” and was assigned the MPO #3001. Upper fieldpost letter (folded triangularly in Russian style) was sent from the Polish Artillery School at Karaul to the 6th Infantry Division at Shakhrisabz. En route, it was censored at Dzhalal Abad as evidenced by the triangular censor cachet with code letter “B. It was sent by Polish courier, hence, no postage was paid. Lower cover front came inbound from the Saratov District to Dzhalal Abad with coded address of AB-2 (meaning 2nd Battalion of Artillery in the 5th Infantry Division.

SOVIET UNION Dzhalal Abad Camp

Military Post No. 3001 4 August 1942

MPO #3001 was assigned to the 5th Infantry Division located at Dzhalal Abad. Its marking is shown here on a receipt which is inscribed “I, St. Pr. Pogorelow G.S., have received for various pieces of correspondence according to lists No. 10 and 6 the total amount of 42 (forty two) rubles.” and signed. This is a very late use of the postmark, only four days before the closing down of this office.

SOVIET UNION Shakhrisabz Camp

Shakhrisabz 30 March 1942

31 March 1942

Te ee 12 May 1942 i Fe $7 or

c Wor —.. = es te

y . hy es ei

od

eB beee Aecdueet “

na obideas ?. waaay io 22H aoe bees peur La, 'TANOHN K REPEBOLY flo NOUTE . k MEPEBOLY 0 NOYTE

a eee oe Me Pee “1 IID», ee

< = Or ip aap > Om noo ele

| 4 Rene LlaetbllUH » Vibitee é GAYS ZA

Hin Pee ee Ege

HIT. Mecta nomaun |; CoH

The 6th Infantry Division was located at Shakhrisabz in Uzbekistan. It used the censor code of “M” and was assigned MPO #3002. Registered cover was sent from Shakhrisabz but the addressee could not be found and it was returned to sender on 4 July as shown by the receiving mark of MPO #3002 on the reverse. Also shown are inbound and outbound money order receipts for 30 and 450 rubles respectively.

SOVIET UNION

Military Post No. 3003

14 June 1942

MPO #3003 was assigned to the 7th Infantry Division located at Khanimeh in Uzbekistan. Its marking is shown here on a cover mailed to a town in the Bukhara District. Note triangular censor mark with code “Z,,” which was assigned to Khanimeh. Below is a cover sent from MPO 3003 to Teheran, Iran by Polish courier, hence no postal markings. Censored at Yangi Jul.

SOVIET UNION Kanimekh Camp

March 1942

Czkalov 18 March 1942

Upper example has an illegible cancel but is addressed to Box 35 (code designation for the 7th Infantry Division) at Kanimekh. Reduced postal card below was sent from Czkalov to a transit camp for airmen at Kanimekh; no censorship or receiving mark.

SOVIET UNION Kanimekh Camp

A s

Puralee Jyneioe Hr rieeg 7

‘$ hargyv0eri e. a Ann la

kjorv

{ =e

| Dy 1

Bs:

July/August 1942

Cover sent from Kanimakh to Teheran, Iran by Polish courier, hence unfranked. British censorship marking applied in Teheran. Origination confirmed by Polish censor mark “3 B.C.” which was assigned to MPO #3003 at Kanimekh.

SOVIET UNION Guzar Camp

Guzar

19 May 1942 20 March 1942

CE NE

TULONLROL adinsanb fo I

po

< € ~ 2" my 12 A . 108, Wawoe epee. zt,

nore a a

7 Gs ™.. RBA dR. 2.10

JPe ¥ a ‘

bx 5 a

sf

ye Tyoemains

MPO #3004 was assigned to the Army Training Center at Guzar, located in Uzbekistan about 60 miles south of Samarkand, in July 1942. However, the troops had already left this location for Iran by the time it was available, so it was never used. This cover shows the use of the civil cancel of Guzar to Shakhrisabz, where it was received on 22 May. Note triangular censor marking with code “K,” which was assigned to this station. Below is a money order receipt for 270.40 rubles from Guzar to Shakhrisabz (received 27 March) via Kitab.

SOVIET UNION Vrevskaja Camp

Vrevskaja 1 March 1942

16 April 1942

_—_——.

ESET SI os r 2

- fe s.

Va ae tee WY 38 ‘Lo AVA ng iM ; AND iA

aa

Cas Rss

p e l e

pel

iN NAAM AS ; Aywnvan a = ctnegee 5 om 7

<

Very early examples of postal service in this small village south of Yangi Jul. Registered cover franked with 90 kopeks (presumably with some valuation surcharge) sent from Vrevskaja to Kanimekh on 1 March 1942 -- which is believed to be the earliest date for any Polish military mail from Central Asia. Below is a money order receipt with the same postmark dated 16 April.

SOVIET UNION

Vrevskaja Camp

Military Post #3005 9 August 1942

Vrevskaja 11 August 1942

> 3 A

Af é Pe

f, i Js z ig 6

god “pdeasns ewes rent (He /p PUK

9

LG tsi pase (fre Co be,

MPO #3005 was assigned to the Army Organization Center at Vrevskaja in Uzbekistan. Examples of this marking are extremely elusive, but one is shown here on a piece cut from a cover. In addition, a postal document from MPO 3005 is shown used on 11 August, the last day that this office was in operation.

SOVIET UNION Maralan & Lugovoy Camps

sy WE : |

oN Li DlIUE Ce Liha 17 March 1942 o :

Lt.nsv

- | at LOM ELEC. 4

4

Uyanal Ye “if. Gubitar (0 fopuye mn. Me &

yy Cf? DM HCL YD re

C CAHGE. ae ONG ek { _ Tloxpo6uoe Haumenosanue anpecara, A & wp OL eo. Wie oe ee

eae Z yn A © s y Fie ; K 364A: Op9GQ -k SLCH OL RIACM & Kas

Sh EE ee eae eee ca ee fee ante of Me ORO LRT RPE Serer

He X

Maralan (Fergana District of Uzbekistan) and Lugovoy (Dzhambul District of Kazakhstan) were the locations of the 9th and 10th Infantry Divisions, respectively. However, as these units had departed for Iran at the end of March, they did not receive MPO or censorship markings. Upper example is a registered cover to the staff of the Polish Army at Maralan with 60 kopeks postage on reverse; received on 16 March 1942. Below is an inbound postal card to the Commandant of the Polish Amny at Lugovoy. Illegible receiving mark and a 10 kopek stamp removed (by the censor?) Usage involving these units is highly elusive.

. Kubvesay of LEI liIOZLB . 13 February 1942

Kzbur Orda

SOVIET UNION Tokmak Camp

Tokmak 19 March 1942

20 March 1942

Tokmak in Kazakhstan was the location of the 8th Infantry Division, and like Lugovoy and Maralan, it never received MPO or censorship markings because the unit departed for Iran before these could be supplied. However, examples of the civil postmark exist and are shown above on a telegram received at Tokmak from Lugovoy and on a receipt for two registered letters, which represent very elusive usages.

SOVIET UNION Polish Postal Marking

Poczta K Polowa

February 1942

KS NO?

[ ENiSizy 280 NE WA oo

( 4 ZSRR

a SF ea

The Poles requested that they be allowed to use a Polish marking on their mail. An octagonal postmark without date was prepared in February 1942 and is believed to have been used briefly at Gusar on local letters. However, the Soviets objected to its introduction, and it was withdrawn. A few examples of proof strikes exist, including this one on obsolete Russian Federation stamps, included here since it is depicted in the literature on the Polish fieldpost in the U.S.S.R.

SOVIET UNION Polish Postal Markings

Glowna Poczta Polowa 29 June 1942

20 July 1942

ek, pas Aes watt ee

e Ce. :

Do

Komendanta Szvitala warkizonowego

W Scharchrigiabs.

Examples of the Polish circular postmark used on inbound mail. Upper cover from British FPO 22 in Cairo, Egypt was addressed to Buzutuk Camp and forwarded to Yangi Jul, where the arrival markin. ig was applied more than three months later. Lower cover was sent by courier from the Polish Embassy in Kustanay to the Commandant of the Garrison Hospital at Shakhrisabz, hencé not franked. Postmarked at Yangi Jul in transit.

SOVIET UNION Polish Postal Markings

Co Glowna Poczta Polowa ‘ 22M RO LUALEM i, ay 1942

os

17 June 1942

remuncnen - 4K (ring,

om HE OO a naoepn ". Oy

®opma 119.

CCC P

Sion Pee ‘ AL | VeeqOMNeHHe .O BPYYEHNN NOYTOBDTO oTNpaBennA pe! | 4 u “wey rth oop, WNA PEOZTA POLOWE Viren oe

Vembsobb)ihs Chien Atte 4.

£m ne Te

at i,

x

3anonHUTe alpecHy10 cTopoHy Ha cBoe uma

A Polish request to be allowed to use their own postal markings was eventually granted, with 22 May 1942 being the first day of use. There were two types, a two-line marking inscribed “Main Post Office/Polish Forces in the U.S.S.R.” and a double-circle version reading “Headquarters Polish Armed Forces in U.S.S.R./ Main Post Office.” Both were undated, but a manuscript date was sometimes inserted in the circular postmark. Examples shown include a cover from the first day with additional Soviet postmark of Yangi Jul, a postal card with the straight-line marking, and a mail ticket used on a bundle of mail with both markings -- with red initials indicating that the bundle was intended for the 5th Infantry Division at Dzhalal Abad.

SOVIET UNION Polish Fieldpost Stamp

Military Post #3000 Glowna Poczta Polowa

. ; : 18 August 1942

en maton 0 we eR ni ere ate

<a

He) Sieaonn : UFZ

a

go,

PTV Sip ir Ae: ig fee ) roy 4 é d A GFL OK. ) f g Lf

i

The Poles also agitated to have their own postage stamp. In June 1942 a contest was held to provide a design, but this was unsatisfactory to the Soviet authorities as it showed eastern Poland with the 1939 boundaries (see proof above). A new design was prepared with inscription “Dojdziemy (We Shall Return)” and the stamp issued on 18 August 1942 (shown here on first day cover). There were 3,017 of the stamps printed, of which 263 were sold before the Polish post office closed on 21 August, of which only an estimated 50 were actually used. Unsold stamps were deposited in the Polish military archives, and the cliche was defaced.

SOVIET UNION Ashkhabad Evacuation Center

Semipalatinsk 22 September 1942

Kustanay 29 September 1942

Ashkhabad, near the southern border of Turkmenistan. forces to be evacuated to Iran. These inbound te Soviet Union, arriving in Ashkhabad on 14 and 31 October, respectively.

, was designated as the assembly point for the Polish gistered items are from the last days of the Poles in the

CA NI AW x3

IRAN Indian Army Postal Service

The Polish exodus from the Soviet Union took place in two waves -- from March-May and in August-September 1942. However, due to lack of organization, a Polish postal service was not set up initially, requiring the use of the post offices provided for the Indian troops who were safeguarding the supply route from the Persian Gulf to the Soviets. Initially, two Teheran FPOs were assigned, No. 57 for military mail and No. 103 for letters from refugees or civilians. The Polish troops were not needed in Iran, so most were reassigned elsewhere in the Middle East relatively quickly.

3 7 FPO 57 bog: =, 5 cs pat: Oe oe | 23 October 1942 “FROM H. M. FORCES ONLY. ee 30 October 1942 oa cate WEIGHT NOT TO EXCEED HALF ae ait PG . FPO 103

Ay 23 October 1942

ly Sasioe XS IY HD lace

<>? SQ s

Examples of mail through the Indian FPOs. Upper cover sent from a Polish soldier to Chicago, paying proper 23 annas airmail postage. Lower cover sent by a private individual to a Polish soldier in Teheran with no postage required. Backstamped by both of the FPOs as well as the Indian Base Post Office C.

TRAN Polish FPO

Poczta Polowa 117

12 April 1943

ee ee 2, ee o fer: ae: Lip Dh Nrwovnin Fier

q :

€e

14.3 ardocfourlea

C E N S O R

S e

This example of Polish mail was despatched through PP. 117 located at Kirkuk, Iraq at the time. Addressed to Boston, it was docketed for transmission by Pan Am Clipper from Baghdad, although apparently 1 anna underpaid. Teheran origin is indicated by the #107 censor mark.

IRAN Polish FPO

Poczta Polowa 130 15 September 1943

Polish FPO 130 in Teheran was the only such office that operated in Iran. It was 1943 to 15 March 1944. This letter was addressed to a Polish soldier, who couldn’t reading “Return/Address Invalid.”

in service from 20 April be located. Note cachet

IRAN

Polish FPO .

Poczta Polowa 117 10 February 1943

Poczta Polowa 130 12 April 1943

= lean \

IIL GY» je Rotor AeRoasts Woj sk owaeh ~ Gekeja Posgukiwan

Leh $F.

VIeh.

Missing Persons Inquiry Office forms used during 1943 (with unsuccessful results in each case). Upper example dated 27 January ended up with a receiving mark of PP. 117 in Kirkuk, Iraq. Lower example dated 16 July has a receiving mark of PP. 130 in Teheran.

IRAN

Polish FPO

Glowna Pozta Polowa 101

2 May 1944

RO oe an

PKT SPOLPCZRES

p> Tea Sy OF TABOCL & On active

Gharles Cwiakaza %e7 W@W. Charleston St.

Ghieago A7. Illinois, U.S.A.

wy Written im rolish

This letter from the Polish Ministry of Labor in Exile in Teheran was apparently franked with Indian stamps in Iran and sent by diplomatic pouch to Egypt, where it was processed by GPP 101 en route to the U.S. On the back flap, a Polish censor label was applied; these are very seldom seen.

IRAN

Indian Army Postal Service

FPO 103 29 July 1944

FPO 107

10 October 1945

UNION CENTRAL ISRAELITA POLAGAS.-

EN LA ARGENTINA

BUENOS aAlTRES

. - Pueyrredon 667

ti Z 5 eee " x ee ere ‘ 4

When the Polish FPO 130 closed in March 1943, mail from Poles remaining in Teheran was again routed through the Indian FPOs. Upper cover sent via Cairo to Boston by Pan Am Clipper with 23 annas postage overpaid by 1 anna. Lower cover from the Polish Red Cross to the Central Agency for Polish Jews in Argentina, a very unusual usage.

EGYPT Egyptian Military Postal Service

The first Polish forces in Egypt were assembled from the men interned in Hungary and Romania in 1939 who were later released or escaped and made their way to the Middle East. These troops were first organized and armed in October 1940 and were initially assigned postmarks #32 and 64 of the British military post offices in Egypt. These markings were in use at Alexandria concurrently with Polish FPO #111, which was introduced on 1 November 194] and used until April 1942, when it was moved to Palestine. Later, other Polish FPOs were used in Egypt, but these are shown in the section of the exhibit dealing with the Central Mediterranean Forces.

Egypt FPO 64 5 January 1942

Registered letter from Alexandria to the U.S. sent through the Egyptian military post office. Note three different censor markings and censor label.

Poczta Polowa 111

11 May 1941 12 March 1942

STES bEGi

The first Polish FPO in Egypt was #111, which opened on 1 November 1 soldier to Boston, paying the fee of 22 mils for a surface letter. Lower example was sent by airmail to the same addressee, but the postage was 120 mils in this case.

940. Upper cover was sent by a

EGYPT

Polish Red Cross Mail

Cairo 12 August 1944

SS if 4 Pea om

$ Pre ey, “Gay, ay. ~ en : s

es ee | aoe : : ( i et / a oie S : | BPW (gage 4

0 LisH RED CROSS URE a DELEG ATION fo |

| 8. |

oy

Minister sylvin Strek

Pelisk Red Cress Delegate

New Yerk City

149 East 67th Street ¥

Bs eth

SL ie Set

Cairo to the Polish Red Cross Delegate in New York.

Cover from the Polish Red Cross at 30, Rue Mansour in plied. Censored in Egypt and the U.S.

No military postmark but machine cancel of Cairo was ap

EGYPT

Egyptian Military Postal Service

Egypt FPO 21 23 August 1946

23 October 1946

. . * rr er c

REGISPERED. AL]. FATT ee R Oe li hin tiene

VIA AIR MAIL

AUMUERICARN Bz

ae oa sve FL bia POCZTAEDLORRTS |

Sees iclon f SSZO A, Din

stig 228 5 oem NS = ay Sere Ee

1

} 3

Late use of the Egyptian military post office for registered letters from Qassasin to Chicago, one to the Americsn Relief for Poland organization. Postage was 122 mils for each, although the upper example was endorsed for airmail and so treated based on 8 days transit time versus 54 days for the other. Note use of registration cachets of the Polish Base Field Post Office 101.

EGYPT Polish FPO -- Inbound Mail

Glowna Poczta Polowa 101

20 February 1948

Very late use of a cover sent by an officer at the Polish Camp in Penrith, Scotland to Qassasin, Egypt. A 2-1/2d stationery envelope was uprated to airmail by addition of a a 2-1/2d adhesive. Processed through Farouk Airposr and the civil post office in Cairo, then transfered to British Base Army P.O. 4 and finally to GPP 101, where it was received on 20 February 1948.

EGYPT Polish Naval Mail

Base Army Post Office 1 3 May 1946

ane ——- ae

x

eumties AaoiSTERED LETTER. ! : ae :

C.EYSAKOWSL WEAYY SLAY

ns ‘SP INK. €/o. EM2 i ALERAN DRIES

Registered letter mailed by Capt. Lysakowski of the H.M.S. Sphinx of the Nile River Flotilla at Alexandria to an officer in the Polish Army in Italy. Sent from British Base Army Post Office 1 through #4 and then to Polish PP 102 and on to Polish HQ in Italy at GPP4, where it was routed to PP117 and delivered at PP110 on 13 May 1945.

CENTRAL MEDITERRANEAN FORCE Base Field Post Office 101

As the various Polish forces became organized, a field post system was established starting in November 1941. Eventually a system of 37 Polish numbered postal stations were operating, generally moving with the particular forces to which they were assigned rather than remaining at a specific location. The troops moved frequently as needed, mostly between Egypt, Palestine and Iraq in the early campaigns and then to Italy later. This makes a geographical or chronological showing of the material more difficult and, in the end, it was decided to show it in numerical order based on the numbers in the postmarks, with date and location being identified in each case. Note that numbers 101 and 104 were base post offices (GPP) for the Middle East and Italy, respectively. Stations number 5, 7, 8 and 134 were never placed in use. In due course, these troops were named the Polish Second Corps.

Glowna Poczta Polowa 101 13 August 1942 19 August 1942

BY AIR MAIL | PAR AVION

Receipt for a registered letter and an airmail cover to Boston, used from GPP 101, which was serving the Headquarters of the Polish Forces in the Middle East located at Rehovot, Palestine at the time.

CENTRAL MEDITERRANEAN FORCE Base Field Post Office 101

Glowna Poczta Polowa 101 16 April 1943

Neos : bb 4, st fa nia Bard rdzi ( fo, wo iB

{7 ee Ste

Boslon- famaica P lain Aus,

5

W A N T A W X H

A d G H N A d O

Written in Molcsh

PP 101 moved to Baghdad, Iraq, where it operated from january to Aeaarat 1943. This cover to the U.S. was franked with an Iraqi 20 fils stamp and passed by Polish and Indian military censors. The marking of a “7” in a small circle is said to have been applied in Iran

CENTRAL MEDITERRANEAN FORCE Base Field Post Office 101 -- Inbound Mail

Glowna Poczta Polowa 101 18 September 1943

PAL FORCE No. 442. i x a : G z f : a! any fo ge é

ZL ve Fh er. , Z : dy

aby de Ree. Hee, ¥ | Oe En oe Mh igug Ait : if wa Welk in 2 ou Aig, CUP LAB. CLE Get Ey Ly

P. C. 90

OP EN ED

BY

R a i s

c o u n

Inbound mail to Polish troops is much more elusive than outbound, importantly because the soldiers had no way to save correspondence. This letter from London was franked with the appropriate 2-1/2d international letter rate postage to Baghdad, where it was backstamped by a GPP 101 postmark and forwarded to PP 123 in Kirkuk. Censored by both the British in London and the Poles in Baghdad.

CENTRAL MEDITERRANEAN FORCE Base Field Post Office 101

Glowna Poczta Polowa 101 9 December 1944

18 December 1947

OO, ia Ey or trie = Cer Ode ae 2

FA OMA cee Gr eeu J Or 7a 0¢

Eola ae Gre 7 x

oa Avion. | Os

han eelave (ornee, a

RE SE To Ne ne nt a

Later, GPP moved to El Qassasin Camp, there until it was closed down on 6 April in Scotland (censored in Cairo) and a reg

Egypt, about 25 miles west of Ismailia, in March 1944 and remained 1948. Shown here are an unfranked military letter to a Polish officer istered letter to the Polish Relief Society in London after the war.

CENTRAL MEDITERRANEAN FORCE Field Post Office 102

Poczta Polowa 102

15 June 1944

Ss : 2s Cor gerne LEYTT CE» ATE rps ov L A 4 Uf ass :

“27, > / Poe oo \

ry trek atl brs pe ee / ore

oye a p44 - “G2 Adt4. AGelo a en Niven AA FOIE WHege ,

act ; on o. gg : ‘

lorlet Shr. 2 Box, YMA. : = /. “a LY : 4 = fo JO 74

a e/ J aL AF OEL: f Konya AE aT Se ee ie ties C- 0 0.

Pro ee 3 fae 4 Otel u

PP 102 opened in Cairo, Egypt in March 1943 and operated there until the beginning of 1947. This cover was sent to the Polish Delegation in Nairobi, Kenya. Censored both by the Poles and British.

CENTRAL MEDITERRANEAN FORCE Field Post Office 102

Se =~ =o eet

W razie niedoreczenia zwrocic do: POLISH FORCES MIDDLE: EAST.

No. bd ; If not delivered return to:

ON scribe

Nez 27

Kierownictvwo Marynarki Wojennej Polish Naval H.Q. ol New-Cavendish Street LONDON 8.W.1.

ENGLAND ~

CENTRALA POSZUKIWAN -

Written in Polish

Kpt.ROZYCKI LUDWIK

Folish Forees Nr.347

ie Lo os ; Lot W 9

ni ; oe.

MISSING PERSONS INQUI

Polish Forces Middle Bas

Poczta Polowa 102

25 August 1945 6 March 1946

ZAGINIONYER, Bs TES oO F pHs

Nr. 35

Bi

The return addresses of Polish Forces Middle East No. 55 w iress as a code for the Red Cross were sent seeking information about missing persons.

. The above covers

CENTRAL MEDITERRANEAN FORCE Field Post Office 103

Poczta Polowa 103 8 October 1946

ae eek el Mas . q Babrutenun 4 7 soe - 7 at

é S W A N S

ee

The PP 103 post office was a relative latecomer opening in Qassasin, Egypt in March 1944 and operating there until August 1947. Airmail postage from someone at the Polish YMCA to the U.S. of 20 pence indicates a double weight letter.

CENTRAL MEDITERRANEAN FORCE Base Field Post Office 104

Glowna Poczta Polowa 104 10 August 1945

27 September 1945

fa me

}

TRS.

She OP VS2CR I Sz y py t

Th LOWS) Aye z

ATR eg vee

SCOR gry x7

ROE

FUP E.

london hpi . se Squier JS3 ele eeckhe. = il 54 ra

GPP was the Base Post Office for the Polish troops in Italy starting in February 1944. Registered cover above paid 10 pence to Scotland as U.S. postage was not valid for service to the United Kingdom. lower cover sent by surface was free of postage to England.

CENTRAL MEDITERRANEAN FORCE Base Field Post Office 104

Glowna Poczta Polowa 104 18 December 1945

REGISTERIED LETTER. This LETTER MUST EE| GIVEN TO AN OFFICER OF They

Post OFFice To Be | RecisTerep, AND A Rec ep / -. | OBTAINIED FOR IT.

This space is reserved for Official

Registration Label.

THE ADDREI|SS MUST BE WRITTEN ON THIS SIDE, /I os

Bardz/tornwes Aa 35,

wh a

Boston | Jamaica PL ae

fees, gou rn ey S77 oa

N70 6.5 US) & Dicer tron mm Lobiah, FEE _ PAID.

Subject to the limitations | and conditions notified in the Bo;

Office Guide, the registration fee | of 3d, covers compensation up) f for loss or damage of an Inland Registered Letter, and up to £24 the entire loss of a Registered

This registered stationery envelope was uprated by 10d to pay the airmail rate from PP 118 to the US. However, what is noteworthy about it is the GPP 4 transit marking, which is a different style with thin letters that was used only for transit purposes.

CENTRAL MEDITERRANEAN FORCE Field Post Office 106

Poczta Polowa 106

19 June 1945

20 July 1945

= ? . ‘ aA oy re

ind 3 — OFF C 4 , 1 Af f Pre

= “7

ae oe ? » Naapett 2

AT) ‘ :

On achive Zeruce

2. £

ee 4 Ase job VU ATs

Te Jeg. Sh.

| S0hen ec Ta Ly 5 hy

8... 2a LOD 77 |

i

Late postmarks used at San Basilio, Italy, where PP 106 was in service from January 1945 to January 1946. Upper cover sent as soldier’s mail to the Polish Red Cross in London, while that below was to the US. Note that postmarks for 105, 107 and 108 were never placed in use.

CENTRAL MEDITERRANEAN FORCE Field Post Office 109

Poczta Polowa 109 17 September 1945

¢

ON Aktewe ;

je rwieee !

PC A 3 y /

BELGRAVE SQUWERE

~~. - *& as <

WRettew tn Pedi s'ch

PP 109 was assigned on 28 January 1945 to a newly-formed tank brigade in Alexandria, Egypt. At that time, the unit was awaiting transport to Italy, where it arrived on 17 October 1945. The cover was addressed to the Polish Red Cross in London.

CENTRAL MEDITERRANEAN FORCE Field Post Office 110

Poczta Polowa 110

9 March 1946

Ve Si

Mr. Stefan Barelrite

In Si gocrevey Sy.

Peto 4o0 Sima'es,

Vlhtne x fhigad

YD. F.

ay

This particular style of postmark had unusually large letters and numerals for the date in the center of the dial. PP 110 was never assigned to a specific unit but was used as a back-up cancel for PP 117. Known used briefly from October 1945 into early 1946, in this case on an airmail letter to the U.S.

CENTRAL MEDITERRANEAN FORCE Field Post Office 111

Poczta Polowa lil

18 June 1942

G>

PvE te

as Messen. 1 eee

Ga

Bie es F Loan,

PP 111 operated at Qastina, Palestine from 28 April until 5 October 1942. This cover, franked with 3d for an international surface letter was sent from this office to the Polish Ambassador in the Soviet Union, who was

at that time stationed at Kuybyshev. Unusual routing via British FPO 154, Indian Base Office No. 7, Indian FPO 103 and Moscow, before arriving at its destination on 3 August 1942

CENTRAL MEDITERRANEAN FORCE Field Post Office 111

Poczta Polowa 111 18 June 1942

2 November 1943

an {/¢lipper. eat a oe ea sw oe

St ef an ja

12 i Sigourney Str,

DPE SMe Aap oC vie, ee Ag ear

BOSTON ‘Masa,

Written in Polish. ~ ™ —U 8. Ae

on aedtive serUcee a =

Swiafs Only ewigzle : :

P (/aboup #2 granicg

up iiles nt, Poteah, z

PP 111 operated at Qastina, Palestine from 28 April 1942 until 24 November 1943. Upper cover, franked with 3d for an international surface letter was sent from this office to the Polish Ambassador in the Soviet Union, who was at that time stationed at Kuybyshev. Routed via British FPO 154, Indian Base Office No. 7, Indian FPO 103 and Moscow. Lower cover sent to London; has Polish and British censor markings.

CENTRAL MEDITERRANEAN FORCE Field Post Office 111A

Poczta Polowa 111A 5 April 1943 15 July 1943

* 4 : MPLA STR. #9 [40

Meade... Nvbreg.

PP 111A was a temporary station, Its postmark was in use from 6 August 1942 to 10 November 1943. The covers above were sent from Mosul, Iraq. Note unusual destinations of Tel Aviv, Palestine and Nairobi, Kenya. Lower example was postage free, but upper one was registered and payment of the 3d registry fee was required.

CENTRAL MEDITERRANEAN FORCE Field Post Office 112

GA NI WV

X4

zi ce “ M A

V

®

PP 112 moved to Iraq in August 1942 and was located at Khanaquin at the time that the upper cover was mailed to the Polish Delegation in Nairobi, Kenya. office moved to Jerusalem: the lower cover was sent

Poczta Polowa 112 16 February 1943

12 April 1944

A jay Pd bx, pt Vola,

Airmail postage was 8 annas. In M from there to Teheran, Iran.

arch 1944 this post

CENTRAL MEDITERRANEAN FORCE Field Post Office 112

al Poczta Polowa 112 4 18 September 1945 | gat | re 29 December 1945

POLSKI CZERWONY KRZYZ DELEGATURA na SYRJE i LIBAN

POLISH RED CROSS in SYRIA and ihe LEBANON

CROIX ROUGE POLONAISE en SYRIE et au LIBAN

f r

| Ke y

POLISH RED CROSS

SeV, i,

Belgrave Square 34

ro r

a Pa nn

ea

ART

— eS :

PP 112 established a branch in Beirut, Lebanon that functioned from 26 April 1945 to 21 September 1946, Upper examples sent from there to the Polish Red Cross in London. Lower cover can be attributed to that branch as the return address is from a Professor Romanski at the American University of Beirut. Polish mail from Lebanon is considered very elusive.

CENTRAL MEDITERRANEAN FORCE Field Post Office 113

Poczta Polowa 113 25 June 1943

a ree ADIN co AP ULOWA oe

This cover with Indian franking was sent airmail and registered from PP 113 from Kirkuk, Iraq to the Polish Delegation in Nairobi, Kenya, paying 12 annas postage.

CENTRAL MEDITERRAN EAN FORCE Field Post Office 113

Poczta Polowa 113 6 March 1945 J

- 12 August 1945

4 : Polish Loaison Cpe, e ; 0777 é tae

: Med req Command ;

i ae i é \ baer 2

‘ E 5 Tekh J labelidiyawe: ae

By March 1944, PP 113 was in Italy. Upper cover sent from Forli to the Polish Liaison Office with the Allied Area Command in Rome. Be low is an air letter sent from Predappio Nuova to the United States -- an unusual usage.

CENTRAL MEDITERRANEAN FORCE Field Post Office 114

Poczta Polowa 114

17 March 1943 14 December 1945

4 te 4 f ec Lf y, y e wv?

WYO? CAEL O OY JL VE _ sf te

Fd

| : - KARTKA POCZTOWA [& | POST CARD

FAD 7 = ; /

PaO Rn Bomb. SOBCNILE RUbEH

Polish Fotces ME aMZ..

Set decxme zyceena | — Kesolych Sarat ¢ Secysbuego ly, S GRUB OWS omega Bab 1946 ee ae

Pt ALVE RR ae

/ Na :

i i iw a

% ‘* * Ma ye s

oe

La

XB

ES

V\ 0 \ RV

Wydaw. Wydzialu Kultury i Prasy Jedn. Wojska na Sr. Wsch. |

y s

i

PP 114 was in Khanagqin, Iraq when the upper cover was sent to airmail to Brooklyn. Postage of 110 fils was paid in Iraqi adhesives. Below a patriotic Christmas card from the Polish Forces in the Middle East mailed from El Kantara, Egypt to New York.

CENTRAL MEDITERRANEAN FORCE Field Post Office 115

Cc

Poczta Polowa 115 1 October 1945

25 March 1947

This space is reserved for Official

Registration Label.

G2 envelope. Post OFFICE To BE

CBTAINIED FOR IT. oe

THE ADDREISS MUST BE a is WRITTEN OIN THiS SIDE, taal D Ce £ : Wook is otra Seley ce 04 Cel NE 6 3736 VON

NW oy Ge Yo 74 %

OP (C8 732d loy a ss

REGISTER THIS LETTER MUST SE

L

ED LETTER, GIVEN TO AN OFFICER OF THE REGISTERED, AND A RECEIPT

D COO

~~

OT) x. FOCciA Movants : ee

FER 3 PAID: ; sgt ea :

PP 115 was the only Polish field post office that spent its entire life in Palestine. Upper cover was mailed free of postage from Barbara to the Polish Red Cross in London; censored in Cairo (#102) en route. Below is a late usage of a British registered letter envelope with the 3d re gistry fee already paid by the imprinted stamp. This office was closed down on 23 August 1947.

CENTRAL MEDITERRANEAN FORCE Field Post Office 116

Poczta Polowa 116 26 September 1945

a. 4 March 1946

On actiye. Clyys CQ |

Ris Qd Ltn

u gpeke

Satan |

Rondon as

as OTe Senate re

ara Sal.

TIb- (0 Dlbe- ST pe

Coca es tJ

df. §. A

Pee fel tf

In September 1945, PP 116 was located in San Benedetto del Tronto and in March 1946 at Bologna, Italy. Upper cover was sent to the Polish Red Cross in London free of postage. Lower cover sent to New Jersey at 3d international letter rate.

CENTRAL MEDITERRANEAN FORCE Field Post Office 117 -- Inbound Mail

Poczta Polowa 117

2 April 1943

This cover was addressed to the Army Hospital #3 of the PAI (Persia and Iraq) Forces, located in Qizil Ribat, Iraq at the time. The receiving mark on the reverse is a different type than was used later at this office. The censor marking #115 is reportedly the scarcest of all the Polish censors and was used in Baghdad.

CENTRAL MEDITERRANEAN FORCE

Field Post Office 117

Poczta Polowa 117

29 May 1945 17 July 1946

On active service

_ Ksiginica Polska

250, Hope Str.

G¢hAS COW ge. 4 : x d

ENGLAND

2 :

In May 1945, when the Active Privilege Envelope was mailed to the Polish Red Cross in London, PP 117 was located in Civitanouva, Italy. Lower cover mailed from Porto Recanati, Italy to Glasgow, which is in Scotland, not England.

CENTRAL MEDITERRANEAN FORCE Field Post Office 118

Poczta Polowa 118

1 September 1943

When this letter was mailed in 1943, PP 118 was located at Kirkuk, Iraq. It was endorsed “By Pan American Clipper” which was a premium service under which mail went on the next flight, as c. airmail, which traveled by milit The cost was 22 annas at the time.

ary aircraft and was subject to delay if there were a s ompared to “ordinary”

pace or weight problem.

CENTRAL MEDITERRANEAN FORCE Field Post Office 118

Poczta Polowa 118 12 September 1945 6 September 1945

AN ee Dat Ah

In September 1945, PP 118 was located in Porto Recanati, Italy. Upper cover sent to Scotland by surface without postage. Lower cover sent to Mexico -- a highly unusual destination -- backstamped British-Base Army Post Office 15 in Naples and and transited Nuevo Laredo on 9 October 1945. Reportedly, U.S. stamps were used for just three weeks in August/September 1945 during a shortage of British postage.

CENTRAL MEDITERRANEAN FORCE Field Post Office 119

Poczta Polowa 119

12 May 1945

In May 1945, PP 119 was located in Trefolci, Italy, from where this cover was mailed to the Polish Red Cross in Winnipeg, Canada. There is an interesting receiving marking on the reverse, inscribed “Divisional Social Assistance in Unorganized Territory” and dated 28 May 1945.

CENTRAL MEDITERRANEAN FORCE Field Post Office 120

Poczta Polowa 120 17 July 1946

620, Whst 115 street IOS TS ESS FREES i i i kai Re NEW YOR ic ONY

GSA

Fee Set tena

PP 120 was opened in August 1944 to serve the Polish civilian settlements in Barletta and Trani, Italy as well as the military units in the area. It remained in operation until 19 October 1946. This cover mailed from Barletta to New York paying 10d airmail and 3d for the registry fee.

CENTRAL MEDITERRANEAN FORCE Field Post Office 121

Poczta Polowa 121

2 January 1943 12 November 1943

=

I

FS RNP ASAE RA SS ESSERE REAM IO SPT PRESET RR OSES

: AE i i Tete. CinPOUONNAD ee } Spas

BY AIR MAIL PAR AVION

BY PAV AMER*CLY ELI OPER SER

5 se = KATARZYNA FILIPIAS

=~ : =i . . — — E a

a

it 0 fn nil

Upper cover mailed while PP 121 was in Qayara, Iraq to the U.S. Postage of 25 annas pays the airmail and registration fees. Lower cover mailed from Hill 69, Palestine to Illinois. Letter was overweight as indicated by auxiliary marking “Over 5 Grams Surcharge” with 2/- postage paid for service by Pan Am Clipper.

CENTRAL MEDITERRANEAN FORCE Field Post Office 121

Poczta Polowa 121

15 September 1945 SA : a te oes _ _-: 26 June 1946

fe a b e r R e i

a a e s

S o e

les. ve

Vr gelire awe ez

SA = a

iB do- 6 23435 Seeley ay | ie ) ;

= xy G7 C290, Gt, Win eff.

These covers mailed from Cesenatico, Italy after the end of the war. Upper example of a postal stationery envelope was sent by air to the U.S., while lower cover was sent with the military franchise to the Polish Red Cross in London.

CENTRAL MEDITERRANEAN FORCE Field Post Office 122

Poczta Polowa 122 22 September 1945

Sera Sp Spe LA EATS

py Py i IK fA A Ly | Coctres EN ae NEI

— pe Rea

>i ~~ 34 Belavave Square

<— ENGLAND

oe

PP 122 moved to Italy in December 1943 and was located in Grottammare when this cover was mailed to the Polish Red Cross in London.

CENTRAL MEDITERRANEAN FORCE Field Post Office 123

Poczta Polowa 123

22 August 1942

Z th peel — | ARMY POSTAL SERVICES. — Registered Letters. p

Office of dota, V4; , — -Enttd.or b/ ao

Delivery... 20°64, JOfUHU AZ... Despd. by Lompoc a £2 VLG? = Wo ee ian ae ee No. Office of Posting Regn. NG Regimental No. and Name Bho G

#. ze Z£

= Vhdidjimd) WON h 1A PHYTOL, We Se tb Jalen: Wg i

ethers ‘ eS

RECEIVED Signature Pg -Alr,-fe-eebedot-|_ deter : Regtl. No. Rank ane ee

| Unita. cl. re (No. — words ) Dat : :

Lette: as above ecto te enemevee deem aa neue co << esa engueae cans tees aoa ene pe

“If not delivred to Post Orderly. — FF 49

2170/PM. - /2—2000 200—12/41

ZL Ve 7

PP 123 opened in June 1942 at Massimya el Kabira, Palestine and operated there until September of that year. Its postmark is shown here used on a form used by the British for keeping records of registered mail. In fact, the notation shows that 2 regular letters and 1 registered were sent on 22 August.

CENTRAL MEDITERRANEAN FORCE Field Post Office 123

Poczta Polowa 123 22 September 1945

30 March 1946

CentTRAK Committee of tHe Women REO Cwegs

= oy oN ‘ Se

ary BEUGRAVE SAVARE.

PP 123 moved to Italy in April 1944 and was located in Macerata when this cover was mailed to the Polish Red Cross in London. Below is a receipt for a registered letter mailed from Recanati.

CENTRAL MEDITERRANEAN FORCE Field Post Office 124

Poczta Polowa 124

21 March 1944

20 May 1946 Se SE a Ts

| = Un ative Seviice |

5 ere ay _———

3

|

\ 6 \ ss . 4

© 9h & SS Ya Lv \\ vy e ~ faye’ |

s a. RY \ ‘ . 2 Ch?

a XN we v ws

NY \ > ka NS gk YS b hein WS ‘ . 2

SA ; Y «> y Coins alt oo

zis 5 * : s Yohoh tal . Cros oa v {

‘ a +

Vera Fotogratia - Rip. interdett® x * | , cr 7. B.. Toso an eee |

|

\ : ; 4 #

Ne

PP 124 moved to Italy in February 1944 and was located in Campochiaro when the cover above was mailed

to Haifa, Palestine. Below is a picture postcard (of Venice) mailed to the Polish Red Cross in Jerusalem.

CENTRAL MEDITERRANEAN FORCE Field Post Office 125

Poczta Polowa 125 1945

7 February 1946

gos ae. a eter emer ee seoenietiaasiiiniiadiineat

we This space is reserved ee for Official a

x peck 7 Tih Whe LETTER MUST BEIGIVEN TO AN orice OF THE = ( MN hick ST OFFICE TO BE REGISTERED, AND A RECEIPT

ie i OBTAINJED ee i,

=jod ; IA io THE ADDREISS MUST Be Rua WRITTEN ON-THSMOE. Tg CRN: ays

» Nes. Nelovi® OLALKOWS Kf , é 3

a I

| 2 7893 W 4277 Pace

of YON 5 TLLINOMS AR z 12 Sates

W538. ey fll ee

Les ‘inosine ge -

Jr nn s

sc r

id :

PP 125 was only stationed in Italy, being there from 7 January 1945 to 14 September 1946, most of the time at Forli, from which upper cover was sent to the Polish Red Cross in London. Below is a British Registered Letter envelope mailed to Illinois with 3d additional franking for international letter for Porto Civitanova.

CENTRAL MEDITERRANEAN FORCE

Field Post Office 125 -- Inbound Mail

Poczta Polowa 125 13 November 1945

This letter from Manchester, England was properly franked with the 2-1/2d international letter rate postage and sent to a soldier in the C.M.F. Backstamped for receipt at PP 125, then at Porto Civitanova, Italy.

CENTRAL MEDITERRANEAN FORCE Field Post Office 126

Poczta Polowa 126 11 December 1945

PP 126 was opened late in the war, primarily to provide service to refugees and displaced persons. However, it also accepted mail from soldiers as indicated by the endorsement “On Active Service.” This letter sent from from Camerino, Italy to the Polish Red Cross in London.

CENTRAL MEDITERRANEAN FORCE Field Post Office 127

Se Ke Poczta Polowa 127 28 December 1943

24 September 1945 2 e w e

y PO P

DS

p r s

Am e:

ne

»

i

’ sons

ti ei

ma si ee ee

ai ea ie aa

eC ee e

aS ry

\

SAP O

RS N Ra G A R I N

@

Upper cover sent by registered mail from PP 127 in El Qassasin, Egypt to Tel Aviv, Palestine, where it was received on 2 January 1944. Lower cover sent by surface to London when this station was located at Porto S Giorgio, Italy.

ead,

CENTRAL MEDITERRANEAN FORCE Field Post Office 127

Poczta Polowa 127 ee 2 April 1946 AVR MAL BOTRICTR thy iat

ay (@Y 22 wan Pe | , (PAR avion er

5, 6220 &IHLE

Ower cover sent registered to London, both when this office Upper cover sent by airmail to Cleveland and 1 was located at Ancona, Italy.

CENTRAL MEDITERRANEAN FORCE Field Post Office 128

~

aiiniemiititiaeees —% = ' Poczta Polowa 128 Lee Led 1 “wk Serre 25 September 1945 1 April 1946

; | 7s fs Ww T4

| fi elgrace

GG : é Z 7 oe 3.

jl 7

A - %, My bite es € x Ne s Se fi f ¥ F : f . fF g } Aft we Zi é C c

J Bd . j = =

"7 i oO hi a

f 4 “ue Po

oe

The PP 128 postmark was used from 19 February 1945 to 12 September 1946. Upper cover went from Gallipoli, Italy to the Polish Red Cross in Lond on. Lower example sent from Maglie, Italy to the Polish Red Cross in Jerusalem -- note faint application of its cachet in red violet.

CENTRAL MEDITERRANEAN FORCE Field Post Office 129

Poczta Polowa 129

7 December 1945

ry AIR MAIL 1 PAR AMIN

PP 129 was assigned to Naples from where this cover was sent to the U.S. paying 10d airmail postage and 3d registration fee. Backstamped for receipt on 31 December 1945.

CENTRAL MEDITERRANEAN FORCE

Field Post Office 130

Poczta Polowa 130 = : oe har 29 October 1943 Ay (Fe) oa s f 17 November 1943

The Delegate f gate ce of The Polish Ministry of Labour tp 2

And Social Welfare on active ster t :

TEHRAN, av. Bacharestan ~ ; Tel, 90-12 and 97-68

Oo

eo Pporek GOLDA ae

Polish Forces MeBe525 SS ee oe cee ee we ee ee a eS

Written in Polish

Ww ni EC. Weehswee

mr . « ek XR

a — nal pis a a vs al a a a a

This FPO was opened in January 1943 in Teheran, Iran, where it served various Polish administrative activities. Examples.shown are from the Chief Roman Catholic Chaplain in Iran to the Polish Red Cross in Kenya and from the Polish Ministry of Labor & Social Welfare to a member of the Polish Forces in the Middle East.

CENTRAL MEDITERRANEAN FORCE Field Post Office 130

fh Lr Poczta Polowa 130

> Juha. ~% 18 June 1944 A. Rudowski | 3 June 1945

Jerusalom, Mamblish Ra

Lorenzo House

C b - 0 1 / d O H D / 1 / 6 1 9 1

YW OS N3 OD A G

G S N 3 d 0

Kanonier IN ZN AI O

JERUSALEM

2 No 9355

RUDOWS KI Andrzej

cu F

“SPOLISH PORCES 619

Written in Yolish & English

PP 130 moved to Italy in May 1944 and was at Mottola when the upper inbound registered cover arrived from Jerusalem. Lower outbound cover was sent to London in early June. Note application of both British and Polish censorship markings.

CENTRAL MEDITERRANEAN FORCE

Field Post Office 131

— Poczta Polowa 131 . 2 17 July 1943 he | Ripette, = - 26 September 1945 ee =

— Bas IY BLre Vanecy

oo “Oy eae

‘ i LZ vit 2 j

On Odive SERVICEeca. ? or “aD.

\ | 6G. 1X. 44. ;

i 4 4 oy que bee

= se

PUK.(BELERAVE SK WARE

LONDON SW. 7.

WRITTEN iN Polis:

Upper cover mailed by a soldier at As Sadiya, Iraq to a compatriot in the PAI (Persia and Iraq) Force. Lower example sent from Porto Recanati, Italy to the Polish Red Cross in London.

a e s

CENTRAL MEDITERRANEAN FORCE Field Post Office 132

Poczta Polowa 132

2 May 1944 27 June 1945

a ee a eae A A { {POR PP ON mina 47s : ee A Jue POLOWAIS2 S (“Vo Ja “ i c ; : AES me

Upper registered cover mailed from Mottola, Italy to 1944. Lower example sent from Faenza, Italy to Lond

Tel Aviv, Palestine, where it was received on 8 May

on,

CENTRAL MEDITERRANEAN FORCE Field Post Office 133

Poczta Polowa 133

16 May 1944 7 November 1944

ke % e a d

f k

ih, i

ei s t a p e s s i a

tg a

nda Va

l et

Me ws

PP 133 was at Acquafiondata, Italy when the upper cover was mailed to Kansas. By November, it was located at Galeata, from where the lower cover to the U.S. was mailed using a 6 cent Transport airmail stamp.

CENTRAL MEDITERRANEAN FORCE Field Post Office 135

Poczta Polowa 135

22 October 1945

Om active service

POLISH RED CROSS

3. Belgrave Square

LONDON &,W.I. Sere Sia SSS

Written in Polish

PP 134 was never placed in use. PP 135 was at Potenza, Italy when this cover was mailed to the Polish Red Cross in London. As usual, postage was free for a surface letter.

CENTRAL MEDITERRANEAN FORCE Field Post Office 136

Poczta Polowa 136

5 April 1946

Theamesiemeres | peOOTERIED LETTER ‘ : By, Poe em Eevel. THis LETTER MUST BE| GIVEN TO AN O&Ficer OF Tro G \ Post OFFICE To BE | REGISTERED, AND A RECEIBE °

2 envelore. OBTAINJED FOR IT.

THE ADDRESS MUST BE WRITTEN ON THIS SIDE.

Weave. S17) mete clowik bee oy

(2. Raster UU Cy oM¥r

veto EO faucet a at ; GV au artes. ‘ ee FEE __ PAID. Ee CF:

i oe .

PP 136 served a Polish hospital for civilians and troops at Casamassima, near Bari between 4 March and 4 August 1946. The British registered Letter envelope shown here was franked with an additional 3d because it was addressed to the United States.

CENTRAL MEDITERRANEAN FORCE Field Post Office 137

Poczta Polowa 137 11 May 1945

PP 137 was operating at Prunaro, Italy when this cover was sent to the Polish Red Cross in London. It was marked in manuscript for Air Mail, but the necessary postage was not applied for this service and there is no indication that it was sent in that manner.

CENTRAL MEDITERRANEAN FORCE Field Post Office 138

Poczta Polowa 138

12 March 1944

& t

te wehure sedueee”

PP 138 operated in Italy from 19 January to 23 November 1944. It was located at Cantalupo when this letter was sent to the U.S. Although the “Airmail” indicia was blacked: out, the cover was franked with a 6 cent Transport airmail, which should have sufficed for air service.

CENTRAL MEDITERRANEAN FORCE Field Post Office 139

Poczta Polowa 139 4 June 1946

PP 139 operated San Benedetto del Tronto, Italy from 1 November 1945 to 15 December 1946. Note the use of a British “By Air Mail” marking instead of the usual Polish version.

CENTRAL MEDITERRANEAN FORCE

Field Post Office 140

Poczta Polowa 140 er Boe _ eens 15 February 1946

Fo. Acbzansyt,’ Lae 7 "99 13 March 1946

Gots, Favce

C.14.F 103.

SP eg

tony AMNALCA ig wy ny

ee USF

eo <t — PP 139 operated in Italy from 16 Fehinany 1944 to 28 May 1946, = was foeated at Bari = dies covers were sent. Both are addressed to New York State, one paying the 3d registration fee in addition to the 3d international letter postage.

CENTRAL MEDITERRANEAN FORCE Field Post Office 141

PP 141 was the highest numbered postmark used by registered from Ahwaz, Iran to Tel Aviv, Palestine. It offices at Rehovot and Tel Aviv.

Shim Ve

5.

—

Tel. Avene

i

Or

OZ omy PES

Georges ce blr of

: 290, , ;

Poczta Polowa 141

16 February 1944

the Polish fieldpost service. This cover was sent was backstamped at GPP 101 and by the civil post

CENTRAL MEDITERRANEAN FORCE Field Post Office 141

Poczta Polowa 141

20 February 1946

2 July 1947

444 a

a s i

UW, JA 17 OLPIA ee |

bay OAC LILIA onracs Fly

Vojisty [eee Cress

Necesscilern, Chin Haren / Jnhecrnat.

ae i

were" | REGISTERED LETTER, HeetehPnT creat THis LETTER MUST BE/QIVEN TO AN OFFICER OF THE C AS, G " eines: PosT eS ee Ceri AND A ReEcEIpr *

THE ADDREISS MUST BE

WRITTEN OjJN THIS SIDE.

ty, me FL OLN ER ae :

: ee, ae a r oe as ‘ae Pete | py Paez pao) “47 AL | Lah. jou y\M [st if Ve. 4 ee

ey : si ;

PI, Dif. FRE: 1 RAD. % se

= = srt dee ae

Upper cover sent from Nazareth, Palestine to the Polish Red Cross in J, erusalem. Lower example of a British registered stationery envelope was sent from the same location to Haifa, where it was received on 3 June 1947 -- a very late usage.

CENTRAL MEDITERRANEAN FORCE Courier Mail

Army Signals AP_W 14 May 1944

Jeru

it A g8u.. V

a

Letters containing secret information were sent by British military couriers. This service used special handstamps inscribed “Army Signals” with a code for the various units and locations. “AP W” stands for Polish Army East from which cover originated; “JE_M” indicates Jerusalem. The particular unit to which the cover was addressed was not there, so it was returned as indicated by a second strike of AP_W four days later.

ITALY Red Cross Mail by Courier

Warszawa 29 December 1945

NM. SL &. Warsaoun abe Mla, tonbasady K, P x Mrygrriré

Dey ea att aBIURC ic AMAACYING

Aa gg ~2” } i O71 od onaty pec7iowej LS O/ 2 oe > / Rozp, dai. °i Tada. 30, 1V, 19 9pm ML nk, Wigohea TF

This cover originated from a Corporal in a Polish Repatriation camp under British control and was delivered to the Polish Embassy in Rome. From there, it went by diplomatic pouch to Warsaw, where it was endorsed by the Polish Red Cross and received a red handstamp that indicated that it was to be sent free of charge according to the PTT regulation PZ 122 of 30 April 1945. It was then postmarked in Warsaw and forwarded to the addressee in Wesola, Upper Silesia. A most unusual usage.

ITALY Second Polish Corps Issue

After the end of the war, the men of the II Polish Corps did not wish to return to then Communist-controlled Poland, so remained in Italy. In January 1946, Polish officials had a set of four stamps and a souvenir sheet printed for use by the troops sending mail through the fieldpost stations. In fact, they were only valid for postage on letters sent between the FPOs, and additional British postage was required for other destinations.

Polska-Poczta-Polowa 18 January 1946

Poczta Polowa 117

10 March 1946

Upper cover shows the set of II Corps stamps on an envelope printed for use on the first day of issue: it has a postmark not otherwise seen by exhibitor. Below is a set sent from FPO 117 at Porto Recanati to a Corporal in the Central Mediteranean Force and backstamped at FPO 123 in the same town. Because it was sent internally through the Polish postal system, no additional franking was required.

ITALY Second Polish Corps Issue

Poczta Polowa 135

1 March 1946

2 Qe eye ee gore ~ ot = aes aac

-Glowna Poczta Polowa 104

: 3 February 1946

Dr. M.E.Ugnmanmski et 1550 N.Damen Ave.

: Chicago 22,Tli.

VB Tene" 3.8 ei) Cee

s e i n e

y

Ra Pera Bee ote, Pa, PASE R ENT SR ake Ree”

= = ae ee > a Ss ST iat cement “a eo pea =e —<S— -

Il Corps postage stamps were sold at the Polish fieldpost offices at the exchange rate of 1 zloty = 10d but were not valid on mail sent outside the Polish system. Thus, letters sent to other destinations, i.e. from FPO 135 at Recanati to Switzerland and from GPP 104 in Naples to the U.S. in the case of the covers shown, had to be franked with 3d in British stamps for the international letter rate plus 3d for the registry fee.

ITALY Second Polish Corps Issue

Poczta Polowa 117

17 March 1946

DOPELATA

Zu, A. NA WDOWYi SIEROTY

PO POLEGEYCH ZOLNIE- RZACH

2 KORPUSU

Also in January 1946, 20,000 imperforate souvenir sheets of the four II Corps stamps were placed on sale. Covers are elusive

Le ote +e to and seldom seen.

ITALY Second Polish Corps Issue

Poczta Polowa 117

1 October 1946

Cpl.S.Barszezewski,C.M.F.Polish Forces 715

rote

M.Konopka ee lh; 2 a

RICCIONE

MARINA

FORLI ;

On 1 October 1946, 10,000 of the remaini zloty applied. This additional money was for the benefit of the . to Italy and to the Polish Embassy to the Holy See in Vatican City

ng 2 zloty stamps were overprinted “Wartosc” and a surcharge of 5 Covers above were mailed on the first day (backstamped for receipt on 4 October.)

ITALY Barletta-Trani Camp

Also in early 1946 a set of ten stamps were issued for use in the Barletta-Trani Camp for wounded soldiers and civilian refugees. These were neither endorsed by nor used in the Polish fieldpost but were a privately-sponsored issue of the Polish War Relief Services. However, they were denominated in lire, produced at the Italian government printing works in Rome and accepted for postage within Italy.

Poczta Osiedli Polskich w Italii/Barletta Trani

1] February 1946

Z ZIEME WEOSKIE) DO POLSKI

Z ZIEMI_WEOSKIE} DO POLSK} aN

f i oF i

i

i

PER VIA AEREA | Mod.24-R bis

There were nine denominations for regular postage from 15 cent. to 10 lire plus the 1 lira stamp printed in yellow-orange, overprinted “Airmail” and surcharged 25 + 100 lire. The low values of the regular stamps are shown above in mint along with a philatelic cover franked with the higher values and sent to Rome.

ITALY Barletta-Trani Camp

Osiedle/Barletta 12 February 1946

ow a ba -

Urzegdewe,. [etn = x 4,

XN

Trae " &

Dyrekcja War Relief Service

__ fk @ mia

via Buencempagni 18. N

sh 7

if

The lire 25 +100 airmail was also issued imperforate. An example is shown above on cover to the office of the War Relief Services in Rome, where it was backstamped for arrival on 14 February.

ITALY Barletta-Trani Camp

JESZCZE POLSKA NIE ZGINELA

POCZTA OSIEDLI POLSKICH W

1945

POCZTA OSIEDLI POLSKICH W ITALI

I a L324

A POLSKICH W ITALII

1945

L: 5 +195

In addition to the set of stamps, three of the high values were issued as souvenir sheets, but in different colors from the originals.

ITALY Barletta-Trani Camp

Pocata Polskich w Italii 15 August 1946

eB ak PER.VIA AEREA

orca WVAle) |

Later im 1946, the low values of the set were overprinted “Airmail” with the image of an airplane and surcharged “+ L.25” Above is a set postmarked on envelope, but exhibitor has never seen any of these actually used.

ITALY Barletta-Trani Camp

Pocata Osiedli Polskich 9 October 1946

Serio

at plaie)

In the final iteration of these stamps, the five low values were overprinted “Honor the Four Freedoms” in

English, French and Polish, with a facsimile signature of President Roosevelt below. Above is a cover with these stamps affixed, but it appears that the postage to Genoa was paid with normal Italian adhesives. Backstamped for arrival on 12 October.

ITALY Red Cross Mail

Mottola 26 October 1945

Roma 21 June 1946

POLSKI CZERWONY KRZYZ przy D-wie 2 Korp. A. P.

RZYM

L.dz-869/45.

COMITH INTERNATIONAL DE LA | CROIX ROUGE 4

Genéve 5eaeeone == (| CRI e)

weep meme 1200 DK Ashland Mirewut DEPARTMENT OF CALIFORNIA

oa Lirvago 44, JU USK

These covers were mailed by Poles through the Italian civil postal system. Above is a letter from the Polish Red Cross in Rome to the International Committee in Geneva. Below is a cover from a member of the CMF to the Catholic League in Chicago.

ITALY

Use of British Fieldpost

Field Post Office 2 September 1946

: A M A R ,

BE NE S E T A

AMERICAN RELIEF FOR POLAND

venreRAr® Generalny

RFRA ENS LAST APE IDE BOA LE LINE OLEATE LEE PROD PDA LL TOI

p-WOJCIECH F. SOSKA

CHICAGO 22 IL LINOIS

ICING 2S SS SSS SSeS SESS

er eAWSHC 47 25 CN OAs op 1200 N ASHLAND AVENUE of NER , oe ES ABe U.S.A. 3G “ ur

oe, “p

ee

Late usage of the British fieldpost office in Rome to send a registered letter from the Soldiers Philatelic Section of the Polish 2nd Corps to the American Relief for Poland in Chicago, where it was received on 23 September.

Polish Red Cross INDIA

Bombay 2 January 1946

AIR MAILe

af ?

s

POLISH RED CROSS, 54,Belgrave Square, LONDON SoWele SSS S SKS oS eTIS Se SRS 4

DELEGATE OF THE POLISH RED GROSS

BOMBAY

15/17, Queen’s Road.

A small number of Polish wounded were sent to hospitals in India. As a result, the Polish Red Cross established an office in Bombay to establish contacts with these men. This cover sent by a delegate of the PRC to its office in London, paying 14 annas for the airmail rate to Britain.

SWEDEN

Naval Internee ees - ae “ts - Prien . CRS Se tna age ances C £ | Lon = eee es eRe ee te Wabrezno } of ae 9, ss . =e = =.

23 March 1945

Atiaché. Mars : w Sieckholmie eo ay

e Y yy

At the time of the invasion, some ships of the Polish Navy escaped and went to Sweden, where the crews were interned from October 1939 until the end of the war. This was the case with the men from three submarines, O.R.P. Rys, Sep and Zbik. Once parts of Poland were liberated and the postal system reestablished, letters could be sent to the internees. In the case of the cover above, which was censored by the Poles and Swedes, it arrived just after the sailor had been released, as confirmed by the red manuscript notation “Left for England 12 VI 1945.” Note the handstamp of the Polish Naval Attache in Stockholm with filing number.